Covetousness
by wanderingassassin
Summary: [Complete]AU Heero Yuy – a dangerous government secret – escapes from his confines in search of his own identity. In order to capture and or eliminate him, former government assassin Duo Maxwell is called back to attention
1. Chapter One: Escape

**Category: **Gundam Wing; 2x1x2  
**Author: **Wandering Assassin (AKA Fishie)  
**Rating: **PG-13+  
**Disclaimer: **Gundam Wing belongs to Bandai, Sunrise and Sotsu Agency. This work of fiction was done for pure enjoyment, and no profit is being made.  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Progress: **1 of prospective two figure number  
**General Notes: **This idea is something I have always wanted to write about, but never got around to doing, or doing properly. But it's almost exam time, which is always the time when I want to do work the least and write the most, even if I do suffer constantly from malignant writer's block. In any case, please read, enjoy and of course review!  
**Music: **Meteor – TM Revolution; Show – Andy Hunter; Ignite - TM Revolution; Gravity of Love - Enigma; Paint the Sky with Stars - Enya; My World - SR-71; Tomorrow - SR-71; How You Remind Me - Nickelback **  
Genre: **Action/adventure/romance; some angst; some sci-fi  
**Summary: **AU 2x1x2 Heero Yuy – a dangerous government secret – escapes from his confines in search of his own identity. In order to capture and/or eliminate him, former government assassin Duo Maxwell is called back to attention.

* * *

**Covetousness**

Chapter One: Escape

Experimentation involving humans are treated with extreme care and the highest security. All findings, despite their relevance, are to be recorded and added to the database of Human Analysis. There are also strict guidelines as to what can and cannot be done. From an extract of Chapter One, section A and subsection C of Rules Regarding Human Experimentation, it clearly states that:

_1. No human, once dead, is to be brought back to life through the uses of advanced technology._

_2. No dead human body is to be used specifically for genetic alterations, which will result in the subsequent revival of the human being._

_3. No dead human is to be equipped with bio-mechanical parts in order to restore life._

Although the revival of a dead human has never been achieved, it is the unanimous decision of the scientists world-wide in collaboration with the world leaders and police force, that no attempts shall ever be conducted. It was in direct violation of many religious beliefs, as well as the idea being unsavory and potentially dangerous. What lay beyond death was something that the human world did not need to know, even if people craved the knowledge and created various stories over the years to accommodate what they believed lay beyond death. Fiction and the obvious room for imagination eased human minds from what actually transpired after death, and in doing so allowed life to proceed without too much fear of what was to come.

Pity that humans were such a curious race, and even the restrictions placed upon them for their own good did not stop them from doing something selfish and stupid.

* * *

There was a low beeping in the background, a regular sound which occurred at predictable intervals. Slowly, he opened his eyes, feeling as if they had never seen the light of day for years. The brightness of the white ceiling above him forced him to close them again, and left him with the knowledge that he definitely had not opened his eyes in ages. Carefully, his eyes fluttered open once more, slowly adjusting to the amount of light in the room. There was a bright square of light directly above him, and as far as he could tell, the rest of the ceiling was just a plain white; very clean and terribly reminding him of a hospital. He made to move his arms, but found them too heavy. His gaze traveled ever so slowly, and focused on his arms lying by his side, both of which looked limp and deathly pale. There were several tubes feeding into them, and his left arm was completely wrapped up in bandages.

The room he was in definitely reminded him of a hospital. The walls were white, there were no windows and there were more than just a few strange devices surrounding him, most of which showed screens with boring lines and graphs and numbers. He saw a small, white, plastic clip over the index finger on his right hand, with a line extending directly to the machine nearest to him. He assumed it was a heart monitor, and the peaks on the graph across the screen were his heart beats. He twitched his hands, found that he could move them, and pushed the little clip off. A shrill noise met his ears, forcing his to stick his finger back into the clip once more. The heart monitor quirked, the graph returning to its original peaks and lines.

He attempted to move his arms again, glad to find that his right arm responded this time. Gingerly, he pushed himself up into a seating position, the action taxing his energy reserves much more than it should. Next to him, the heart-monitor's beeping sped up a notch, and he felt his breath catch in his throat as he gasped for air. For a moment, all he could do was sit and gasp, while feeling numb all over. Then the pain hit him, and he almost fainted. It felt as if every section of his body was being repetitively stabbed by hot needles, and it was all he could do to prevent himself from screaming. The beeping sped up once again, and he could see the peaks appearing more rapidly. He forced himself to calm down, all the while biting his lip to keep from letting out a sound.

There was the sound of a door being opened, followed by a series of hurried footsteps. Three sets of footsteps; three men. He looked up slowly, feeling sweat slip down his brow and his lip bleeding. One of the men approached him quickly, a syringe in his right hand. He struggled to fight the other man off, but the guy was much stronger than him in his current condition. The needle broke his skin in a small prick of pain incomparable to what the rest of his body was feeling, and then miraculously, the pain stopped. He stared at the man who was obviously a doctor or scientist of some sort, considering the white cloak on his shoulders, and the man stared back with an expression of obvious relief. Somehow, it did not make him feel better.

'You're awake.' One of the other men said obviously, while the third walked around examining the various devices sitting around, taking down notes. 'It has been so long, we thought the experiment failed.'

'What?' The confused man currently being checked on asked, his voice coming out in a croak of obvious disuse.

'He can speak!' The man taking notes exclaimed before bending over his pad and scribbling some more. 'And all his stats are normal.'

'Good.' The man who had administered the injection said with a smile. 'Well then, let's check his psych.'

'What is your name?' The doctor with the notepad asked, his green eyes flashing as he stared from the pad in his hands and the man sitting on the hospital bed.

'I don't know.' The man responded truthfully.

'Your age?'

'I don't know.'

'Family?'

'I don't know.'

'He doesn't have any memories.' The doctor looked disappointed, his green eyes showing obvious dissatisfaction. The other doctors sighed.

'Let me help you along a little.' The second doctor said, his voice impassive. 'Your name is Heero.'

'Heero?' The man repeated, his own voice a cold echo.

'Doesn't look like he remembers anything.' The second man stated, eyes cold. 'Useless.'

'Give him some time.' The first doctor said calmly, his dark eyes expectant. Heero felt discomfort bite at him. 'He will remember eventually.'

'And if he doesn't?' The green-eyed man asked, looking up from his notepad.

'A useless tool is a liability.' The second man replied without inflection. 'All liabilities will be eliminated.'

'Don't speak like he's not here.' The first man scolded. 'He does understand us, you know.'

'In any case, there is no point in remaining here.' The second doctor said while pulling his coat straight. 'Hand the report to General Khushrenada Thomas. Jeremy and I will take our leave now.'

'Of course.' The third man replied distractedly, scribbling a final comment on his notepad before turning and leaving. The other two doctors followed him, and soon, all three of them had left. Heero let out the breath he had been unconsciously holding, his hands balling into fists. The second doctor had said he would be killed if he did not remember his past, and although the man Jeremy seemed to be biding his time, Heero had the impression that it was only because he wanted something from him. It was safe to say either way that none of the three doctors could be trusted, and that General Khushrenada, he was not on Heero's good list either. The doctors had spoken to him as if he was the byproduct of some strange experiment, and although Heero did not yet know the details, he knew without a doubt that he should get up and escape as soon as he could.

He glanced over at the numerous tubes currently feeding into him, following them back to several bags of liquid suspended in a metal rack next to his bed. He easily pulled all of them off, and was glad to discover that he was still perfectly conscious without them. He tested his other arm and his legs, finding both of them functional, although his left leg was slightly stiff. Carefully, he slipped out of bed, landing in a heap on the floor when his left leg gave way under him. With the bed as support, Heero pulled himself back up, the white clip still attached to his hand.

There were definitely cameras around the room, and it would only be a matter of time before security discovered he was out of bed. They had not bound him to the hospital bed, so perhaps they were expecting him to get up and walk after a while. He disconnected the heart monitor's electricity supply before removing the clip, glad to left in a small moment of silence before he launched himself across the room.

The door was locked as expected, and Heero noticed a small number pad next to it. He needed a code. Unconsciously, his left hand moved over the pad, brushing lightly over it before pressing several numbers in rapid succession. There was a click, and the lock was released. Heero was surprised, unsure of his new-found skill of breaking key-codes, but it was all the more incentive for him to wrench open the white door and leave the room. The corridor outside was deserted, and a glance at the window at the end showed him that it was night outside. Heero limped as fast as his legs would allow, reaching the window and staring outside. His eyes registered that he was on the third floor of a building surrounded by a ten foot wall of concrete with barbed wire at the top. He barely had time to take in the armed guards standing in a group at the only gate before the sound of rushing footsteps filled his ears. He turned and ran instinctively, reaching the fire escape stairs and dashing down quickly. He had barely reached the second floor before hearing the door wrenched open, and hurried footsteps following him. The sound was heavy, and Heero knew without looking back that they were guards.

He reached the ground floor, but continued down until he reached the basement. Hurriedly, he punched in the security code and slammed the door tightly behind himself. His hand flew over the keypad once more, scrambling the codes and buying himself a few extra seconds, before dashing into the underground car park and finding the sturdiest car available. His eyes settled on a red sedan not so far away, and he was stumped for a moment, unsure how to open it. A loud banging sound exploded from the door, and he found that he could not care less how he got into it, as long as he did. Knowing it was definitely going to hurt badly in future, Heero punched his right fist through the driver window. The glass shattered, and his hand flew down, pulling back the lock before pulling out again and opening the door. There was another crash from the door. Heero seated himself at the wheel, slamming the door shut before reaching down to wire the car. There was another crash from the door, followed by the sound of bullets being fired. The engine roared into life, and Heero released the brake before shifting the gears and plunging his foot down on the pedal. The car accelerated forward in a whirl of red, taking sharp turns as Heero reminded himself of how to drive. The only gate at the end was closing, and Heero shifted the gears once more, desperate to beat the gate. There were bullet shots coming from behind, three of which broke his back window and a fourth taking out his left wing mirror. Heero hunched slightly in his seat, his foot pushing down as far as it could on the pedal as the car flew through the gate, the top catching in a horrible sound of ripping metal. Before he could even contemplate what had happened, Heero found himself smashing through a bar in the road before crashing through yet another gate. Surprised guards fired desperately at him, and one of the bullets dove into his right arm. But Heero paid it no mind as he sped his way to freedom.

* * *

**Endnotes:**

I have no words…okay, I have no clue whether it is possible to scramble the codes of keypads by punching in some random code on the keypad, but I'm assuming it's possible. Likewise, I have no clue how to wire a car, damn it, I don't even know how to drive a car! I don't get my license for another two years! So you'll have to excuse me if anything sounded slightly dodgy (or extremely dodgy for that matter), I'm doing my best from all my random years of experience on the topic gained from random action movies. Feel free to send me your disdain on the topic, Assassin is ready for tomatoes. Anyway, hopefully the rest of the chapter sounded okay…I understand it was a little shallow (heh, just a little?) and there was hardly any dwelling on Heero's actual feelings, save that he had to run away. I'll go further into the plot next chapter! So please review and encourage this caffeine-deprived author (due to random acquired allergy to the stuff).

Assassin


	2. Chapter Two: Decisions

**Progress: **2 of a proposed two figure sum**  
General Notes: **(For summary, genre, disclaimer etc, please refer to chapter one.)  
Thank you for all who reviewed. I'm glad you guys enjoyed that first chapter, although I agree, it was slightly short. I've been trying to pace myself in not writing too much per chapter, but that one was short, even for me. Any how, here's chapter two, and we meet Duo...**  
Music: **Confessions - Usher; Look What You've Done - Jet; Numb - Linkin Park; Moonlight Sonata - Beethoven; One Winged Angel - Final Fantasy VII OST; Melodies of Life - Final Fantasy IX OST; Loneliness - Naruto OST; The Battle - Gladiator OST

* * *

**Covetousness**

Chapter Two: Decisions

The alarm rang insistently, a horrible, high-pitched tone which jolted Duo out of the misty haze of his dream. He growled irritably, one arm shooting out from under the covers to slam at the bedside table where the alarm was supposed to be. Unfortunately, all his hand met was the surface of the novel he had been reading last night. Still unfocused, he sat up slowly to scout the room and discovered his alarm sitting on the surface of his desk, next to his computer. Without thinking, he grabbed the novel and threw it towards the alarm, managing to knock the thing into silence when it slipped and fell of the desk, but ramming into his keyboard and taking it down with it. Duo blinked sleepily for a moment before slipping back under the covers, desperate to fall asleep once again.

Just as he was about to drift off again, a second alarm rang somewhere under his bed. Duo grabbed his pillow and threw it over his head, blocking out his ears. The shrill alarm screamed loudly, only to be followed moments later by a third radio alarm. By that point, Duo decided that he was not going to get any more sleep this morning. There was just something about hearing Brittney Spears sing _Oops, I did it again_ at seven A.M. in the morning which kept people from wanting to fall back to sleep.

Still feeling groggy, Duo pulled himself out of bed, slipped over some dirty laundry and found himself lying on the floor with the alarm clock under his bed within reach. With a yawn, he grabbed the alarm clock out and silenced it before slipping it onto his bedside table, while his other hand massaged the back of his head desperately. It was still way too early to be getting headaches.

Duo proceeded to the bathroom, stripping as he went, adding his pajamas to the increasing mass of clothing on the floor. He turned on the shower and spent a good ten minutes simply standing under the spray, while his mind and body grew steadily more awake. The music on the radio had changed to _American Idiot_, and Duo soon found his feet tapping to the beat of the music while he washed his hair. The phone rang from the lounge, alerting Duo that he was taking too long to finish his shower. He rinsed his hair quickly and jumped out, wrapping a towel around his middle as he dashed to pick up the phone.

'Duo speaking.' He announced, fiddling with the monitor to switch on the screen. A blond soon appeared, his green-blue eyes sparkling.

'Hey Duo.' Quatre greeted with a smile.

'You better have a good reason to call when I'm having a shower.' Duo growled, indicating at his dripping hair. Quatre gave him a look that said clearly "it's not my fault you don't wake up when you're supposed to on a work day."

'It's my sister's birthday today.' Quatre announced.

'Which one?' Duo asked, putting the phone on speaker and walking away. He could hear Quatre huffing, obviously irritated that Duo was walking away. 'Don't fret Q-ball, I just need to brush my teeth and dry off my hair.'

'It's Iria's birthday.' Quatre announced, obviously attempting to project his voice so that Duo could hear. 'She's inviting every person imaginable, so I thought I might as well grab you too.'

'None doing Quatre!' Duo yelled back through a mouthful of toothpaste. He spat out the froth before speaking again. 'Your family parties are scary! I was nearly mobbed by a group of ten year olds last time.'

'Oh Duo!' Duo was suddenly glad he was not standing in front of the monitor. Quatre and those eyes of his made it impossible to say no. 'You love parties.'

'Not one of your family parties.' Duo grumbled while blow-drying his hair. 'Besides, I have work today.'

'After work.'

'Busy.'

'Duo…'

'Tell you what Quatre.' Duo announced while dragging a comb through his hair and brushing it straight. 'I'll come if I get off work early. But you know my boss, he's a total slave-driver.'

'I guess I'll just have to make do with that.' Quatre's sigh was audible even from the bathroom. 'Well, have a good morning Duo and do try to come.'

'Will do.' There was a click, and he heard the phone announce in a computerized voice: "signal lost", before switching off. Duo sighed and platted his hair, hoping for once that his boss would keep him at work for longer than usual. It was definitely not a nice thing to wish for, but he really did not feel like going to a party, especially not one of the Winner Family Parties. They were always guaranteed to be scary.

Quatre and Duo had been friends since high school, which was remarkably not so long ago. Quatre Winner was the heir of a powerful Arabian family, and Duo had been let into the prestigious private school under a full scholarship. The student body was infatuated with Quatre, and treated Duo like a nobody, so obviously, the two had to become friends. Duo was surprised to find that Quatre was a very normal person, albeit his family was rich enough to own the school and every other school in the country.

Duo stared at himself in the mirror when he was done, making sure that his braid was not off center. He did not need to, considering the fact that he had been wearing the braid since he was eight, but he did so anyway out of habit. A man in his mid-twenties stared back at him, violet eyes sparkling. Duo sighed, pushed a stray lock of hair away, and proceeded into the kitchen. He had barely taken out his cereal box when he heard a fourth alarm go off, one which meant he should be leaving if he did not wish to be late. Duo sighed and replaced the cereal box. He marched back into his room and changed into a black suit (office dress-code had never ceased to bother him), grabbed his briefcase and keys, and exited the apartment.

It was amazing how the entire city was awake at quarter-past-seven in the morning. The entire underground parking lot was empty, save for three cars excluding his own. He yawned as he approached his own car, pressing a remote attached to his keys and unlocking all the doors. It was a black Jaguar, a present from his dear uncle Howard before he moved off to live in Hawaii. Personally, Duo could not see what there was to do in Hawaii apart from surf and sunbathe, and Howard was already way too old to be doing either, but he was not complaining. If it made the old man happy to spend his days staring at blue sea and blue skies and girls in skimpy bikinis, then who was he to speak otherwise.

Morning traffic was horrible. Duo had managed to finish a bacon and egg McMuffin, two cups of coffee (courtesy of the local Starbucks) and a slice of chocolate cake while waiting for the traffic to move. He had been sitting in the exact same spot for the last twenty minutes, and it was definitely not an exaggeration to say that even the tectonic plate beneath him was moving at a faster rate. A glance out the window showed him a business woman applying her makeup while waiting, and the other side revealed a Asian yuppie who was speaking much faster than should be humanly possible into a headset while trying to light a cigarette. Duo sighed, feeling about as bored as if he had been forced to sit in Central Park and watch the grass grow. Silently, he wondered why he had only purchased such a small breakfast.

Come eight-thirty and Duo was finally at work. He marched towards his desk as if he was walking to his execution, with shoulders hunched and feet dragging. A couple of his fellow workers laughed, and his friend Hilde shook her head while indicating at an extra cup of coffee sitting on her desk. Duo sat down tiredly before turning to Hilde, who happened to share the desk right next to his own. She handed him the cup, and he offered her an exaggerated bow of thanks.

'I take it that traffic was hell.' She smirked. Duo nodded frantically.

'You have no idea.' He muttered, sighing as he downed half the cup in one go.

'This is why I walk to work, Duo.' She replied briskly, turning back to her desk to rummage within her draws. 'Here's some documentation for you to check.'

'I live too damn far away to walk.' Duo growled back in exasperation, throwing his hands into the air while he did it. 'Oh why must God be so cruel to us humans and force us to sit in traffic for an hour every weekday morning?'

'Oh get over it Maxwell.' Hilde laughed, hitting him over the head with the pile of papers before dumping them on his desk. 'Read, check and publish.'

'Such manual labor.' Duo sighed, shaking his head as he flipped through the mass of papers on his desk. He hated his current job with a passion, but it was definitely a good change from his old job. That was a life Duo wanted to leave as far behind as possible. It did not matter whether the government was supposed to be working in the favor of the citizens, but Duo had to draw a line when it came to the life of a little boy. Simply for being born who he was, born into such a family, he was to be eliminated. Duo could still see the look in that boy's eyes every time he closed his eyes, bright blue eyes, so full of fear. A four year old boy, erased because of his heritage.

'Duo!' Duo blinked, surprised that he had allowed himself to drift off. Hilde was standing nearby, a look of worry on her face. 'You okay?'

'Yea.' Duo smiled. 'Just a little tired.'

* * *

'What exactly do you mean when you say "escaped"?'

Trieze Khushrenada was definitely not happy. He had only been just informed the previous night that their most prized and secret experiment had finally come back to life. Albeit he had no memories of his previous life, Trieze believed that it would only be a matter of time before he remembered everything. However, he had barely hung up the phone to one Dr. Thomas J. Watson before a second call arrived, informing him of the escape of the experiment subject. Now he sat in his office, with his chief of security standing before him, looking positively nervous.

'He hacked into the keypads.' The security officer explained, his voice calm but barely concealing the underlying fear. 'I don't understand how, since the keypads are protected by a very complex encryption key. But he managed sir, and he also scrambled them. We have our security technicians at work now sir, descrambling the code.'

'Let me get this straight.' Trieze's voice was acid. 'A man who cannot even remember his own name manages to hack into security and find the code to open the doors, and then manages to scramble the encryption key so that now we need a team of technicians to fix it?'

'Yes sir.'

'Where are your brains, man?' Trieze yelled, standing up from his seat. The security officer visibly flinched. 'We had seven security cameras in that room, how come nobody rushed over when they saw him move from bed?'

'The man in charge of the cameras thought he was merely stretching his legs, sir.' The officer explained earnestly 'There was a problem with two of the cameras in room 45-B, and he had his full attention on that, sir. When he looked back, the subject was out of the room and in the corridor. He informed security patrol immediately.'

'And they let him escape.' Trieze sighed, sitting back in his chair. 'I want you to find him, and I want you to bring him back, dead or alive. And I want you to be discrete about it. The public must not know.'

'Yes sir.'

'You have a week.' Trieze continued, sharp eyes fixed sternly on the officer. 'Get your best men onto it, but make sure the information is not spread to widely. Best men, but also very trustworthy men. It would be a major catastrophe if the public knew.'

'Yes sir.'

'Dismissed.'

The Chief of Security marched out with his back straight and a look of obvious relief on his face. The door shut softly behind him, and Trieze leant back in his chair, fingers at his temples.

He had a terrible feeling that this mistake would end with a bang.

* * *

Heero limped slowly down a street, now clad in the pair of jeans and black shirt he had stolen from a passing man earlier. It was an immoral thing to do, assaulting a random stranger and stealing their clothes, but Heero had to look as inconspicuous as possible, lest he find himself being thrown back into that white room. He had abandoned the car miles ago in a small alleyway, and taken a train soon after. Now he was walking on the streets of the city center, tired and hungry from a night was fleeing. He had taken the fifty dollars the man had in his wallet earlier, so now needed to find somewhere to eat. It was not a difficult thing to do, but Heero wanted to purchase only from a highly crowded restaurant. He finally settled on a nearby McDonalds, and spent five dollars on a coffee and two potato cakes. The food tasted strange, but somewhat familiar. Heero could not remember the last time he set foot in a McDonalds, but he had definitely been in one before.

He took a seat on a bench in Central Park, finishing off his meal while taking in the large lake before him. There was a mass of ducks sitting around the place, quacking to one another contentedly. A few people passed him by as they hurried off to work or finished off their morning jog. Heero sighed as he drained his coffee. There was no denying that he felt lost. He needed to discover who he was, and who the people after him were. He had one lead though: General Khushrenada. The last name sounded exotic enough to convince Heero that there should be no more than a few in the country, and if he really was in the military, then there would only be one there. But if the Khushrenada whom the three scientists were reporting to really was in the military, then it was going to give Heero more than a few problems. Hiding from the government was not an easy thing to do, especially when one had no clue where or who to go to. Either way, it would definitely be better if Heero made very little impressions anywhere.

Finishing off his potato cake, Heero rose from his seat, a determined look on his face. There was something strange about this whole situation, and was definitely going to find out what.

* * *

**Endnotes:**

Another chapter finished, yay! And the wheels are turning…yes…(attempts to look philosophical). Not much to say really. Duo is a moping desk clerk, Trieze is an angry general attempting to protect some dark secret (but we all know what it is), and Heero is sexy hunk of man meat walking around trying to be inconspicuous. Heh, at least rabid fangirls don't exist in the world he's in (sighs). Hopefully this story has got your collective attentions and have you guys waiting avidly for the next chapter, but until then, review my readers and enforce Assassin's self esteem (although that could be a bad thing…)


	3. Chapter Three: A Job

**Progress: **3 of a proposed two figure sum**  
General Notes: **I give you all my sincerest apologies for taking so long to update! It was…well…let's just say I just had my chemistry exam and…well, it didn't go quite as well as I wanted it. I felt like I could have done so much better, and that exam was more difficult than anything I have thus far attempted. It seemed as if some divine power somewhere was just channeling all the things I hadn't revised for into one exam! Total evil I say! Anyway…now it's over, so I'm free to write and do stuff for another…month and a half before my exam results come back and I discover just how badly I did. But one thing is for sure, I'll never ever forget the process of Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy again! That thing just cost me seven fudging marks! (starts bashing head into unwary keyboard)  
In any case, I bring before you a new chapter of Covetousness. I hope you guys all enjoy it and, as always, read and review!

_**Covetousnes**s: adj. An extreme desire to acquire or possess; synonym: greed._

**Music: **Bang Bang – Kill Bill OST; Little Red Riding Hood – Sam the Sham; Broken Wings – Trinity Blood; Life is Like a Boat – Rie Fu; May it Be – Enya; I Don't Know You Anymore – Savage Garden; Smoke – Natalie Imbrugalia (I hope I got her name correct…)

* * *

**Covetousness**

Chapter Three: A Job

Heero Yuy emerged from the state library with a look of satisfaction on his face and a scrunched up note in his pockets. As he had thought, the name Khushrenada was not common, with only two in the entire city and one registered under the military database. It only took a further half an hour on a computer and a good deal of research (some of which bordered on illegal invasion of privacy; i.e. hacking) for Heero to find all of General Trieze Khushrenada's standard data. The man's more secret files however, were inaccessible, and the recently escaped man did not wish to try hacking any further at a local library unless he could understand the full logic behind what was happening behind the screen and the overly complex ones and zeros. Even so, Heero had enough information on his hands for the moment, what came next was figuring out what to do with it.

He had been keeping a close eye on the news, and was mildly surprised when his picture did not appear under the Wanted Men category. He supposed that was supposed to warn him of something, since the government was not willing to spread his identity into the public. Heero suspected the reason behind such an act to be one of two things: a) they did not wish to alarm the public with the knowledge that a patient had escaped from a supposedly high-security military facility, or b) they did not wish for the public to know because whatever occurred to Heero under their care was highly illegal, and worthy of violent outbursts and scandal.

Heero walked down a busy street, noting the sun's gradual descent beneath the horizon through all the various sky scrapers. It was soon going to be peak hour, and already, businessmen and women were filling the streets on foot, in vehicles and other forms of public transport. Heero kept his eyes fixed on the path before him, refraining from drawing attention to himself. He supposed his dress did not match with the professional business suits and coats surrounding him in hoards, but exhausted office-workers had much more important things to dwell about than the man walking swiftly amongst them, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.

On his way across a road, Heero bumped shoulders with a passing man. He looked up quickly, and the man apologized quickly with a smile, before turning and continuing walking, long chestnut-braid swinging behind him. Heero shrugged and continued walking, eyes back on the road and trying to think of where he would stay for the night. He might have been able to wander around for all of the previous night, but he was definitely growing tired, and the forty dollars he had left was hardly enough for a motel room and an adequate dinner. Heero sighed as he left the street and entered a small fast-food restaurant, joining in the absurdly long queue while skimming over the menu and trying to pick something familiar and appetizing. When everything available failed to tug at his memories, he settled for bowl of chicken-soup noodles. Even if the name was bland and the food was bound to be boring, it still sounded better than "white turkey delight". As far as Heero was concerned, there was no such thing as white turkeys, and the ridiculously high price next to the meal only further heightened his reluctance to try anything so completely exotic.

His meal arrived in a plastic bag placed inside a paper bowl, costing Heero another seven-fifty from the remnants of the fifty dollars he had left. He counted the money he had left as he left the store, frowning while trying to tally what he could do with the thirty-five bucks he had left. It was definitely not enough for a motel, even the more straggly ones, not to mention he had no identification on his person. He would probably be safer if he remained on the road, ready to leave at any possible moment. Silently, he hoped that there would be no rain. The last thing he needed at the current time was to be faced with the dilemma of finding some shelter against the rain.

The sun sunk beneath the horizon, and the city was plunged into natural darkness, countered by the thousands of neon lights which sprang alight the instant the sun set. Heero hunched his shoulders while clutching his dinner for warmth. It seemed that the weather was turning foul on him, and was probably going to end up in a storm soon, judging by the mass of clouds slowly building in the sky. With a shrug, he continued walking at a faster pace, all the while complaining in his mind that this was definitely not his day.

* * *

The Chief of Security was frantic as he shuffled desperately through a pile of profiles on possible assassins, courtesy of his secretary Lela, who was currently sitting next to his desk doing much the same thing as he. They needed to find somebody who would be good, exceptionally good, considering who they were dealing with. Not only that, they also had to be trustworthy, and not likely to brag to anybody about their assignment. He had told Lela that earlier, and she had instantly run a search through the database of assassins from the past five years till present, finally producing a large stack of profiles for her boss. The man shook his head slowly while rubbing the bridge of his nose with a tired right hand, he had never imagined work in the military to be so tedious. 

'Mr. Conley?' Lela asked, eyes fixed on a file in her hands. 'Would you mind taking a look at this?'

'Tell me you found gold Lela.' Conley mumbled tiredly, reaching over for the file. His secretary gave him a wide smile, and he could not help but smile himself. Flipping open the manila folder, he found himself staring at the picture of a boy in his late teens. The boy had a heart-shaped face, and a gleeful smile on his face, but his violet eyes indicated otherwise. Conley knew those eyes – the eyes of an assassin, and such a young assassin. His eyes flicked over the profile next to the picture, feeling his smile increase as he read:

Name: Duo Maxwell  
Date of Birth: July 4 19x (1)  
Gender: Male  
Place of Birth: L2 Colony

'This makes him…twenty-five now.' Conley mused. 'An assassin at the age of seventeen, left the military when he was twenty-two. Last assignment completed…' Conley's eyes widened at what he read next, the smile on his face growing possibly larger. 'Yes Lela, Mr. Maxwell will do well for our cause. Not even a blemish next to his name, and five medals for good service, not to mention several recommendations next to his name, including one by Commander Une. Yes, he will do nicely.'

'Only problem is that he's retired sir.' His secretary frowned, already sifting through the database for Maxwell's full profile.

'Get him to come back.' Conley leaned back in his chair. 'There is no such thing as leaving if you are an assassin. There are just very long breaks, but in the end, they always come back.'

* * *

Duo sighed as he entered his apartment, nudging the door closed behind him with a shoulder. It was nine already, much later than when he should have returned. He told Quatre earlier that his boss would keep him in, and the man definitely lived up to expectations. He had Duo staying and working away until eight-thirty over a forty-page document that was not even supposed to be his problem. Still, it did make for a legitimate reason to stay away from the Winner party. 

Duo dropped shrugged off his coat and threw it with practiced ease at the coat hanger. Next, he ripped off his tie and pulled his shirt open a few buttons. The tie soon found its way on the couch, followed not long after by Duo's own weight. The braided man sighed, feeling as if his head was about to explode. If he even heard the word "duty" again, he felt as if he would cry. The long hours he spent reading over that long article about soldiers and duty and brothers-in-arms really ticked at his nerve, not that he had anything against soldiers, but simply because he had never read such a badly written and completely opinionated piece. The entire piece was screaming hero-worship, and told Duo more about the war-nerd who wrote it than any profile on the man ever could. Duo supposed he was being unfair, having been a part of the shady side of the military, but seriously. One could read the word "duty" only a certain number of times before one began to wonder whether the writer was completely in love with the word or seriously lacking a thesaurus.

The phone rang, and Duo had half the mind that it was Quatre. Heaven knows he would be looking for any excuse too if it meant getting away from one of their family functions. With a sigh, Duo heaved himself off the couch and took his seat in front of phone, picking up the handset. Quatre's voice filled his ear, and Duo smiled before turning on the video, finding a frustrated looking Arabian staring back at him with accusing blue eyes.

'You!'

'Yes, it's me.' Duo smirked, reaching over to the cradle and putting the phone on speaker. 'What's wrong Q?'

'How could you abandon me?' Quatre looked flushed, and Duo had to smile.

'Abandon you to what Q?' He asked innocently, seeing Quatre's face contort. 'It is a family occasion after all, is it not?'

'Everybody is here!' Quatre looked dismayed. 'The mayor is here, the mayor's family is here, the mayor's cousin's family is here! Not to mention a mass of people I have never even seen before, a couple of people who I probably did not ever wish to meet, and a few people from your old crowd.'

'My old crowd?' Duo gave a skeptical look.

'General Khushrenada is here.' Quatre grumbled. 'Lady Une is here, a bunch of random other military officials are here, and the security around this place seems to have quadrupled between the time they came in and now.'

'Why are you telling me?' Duo asked, although he had a faint idea as to what the answer was going to be.

'Something is up.' Quatre spoke calmly, confirming Duo's fears. It was only then that Duo noticed that Quatre had relocated himself in the garden, and was now unobtrusively turning his mobile phone around to give Duo a quick glance of the security around the Winner Estate. Duo frowned, finding a similar look on his friend's face when the camera swerved back to him. 'This is the sort of security you have up only when you are in critical danger.'

'They think that somebody is going to crash the party.' Duo mumbled, confirming Quatre's idea. 'Somebody strong.'

'It could be a group.' Quatre suggested, now sitting with his back against a fountain of a swan.

'Or a group.' Duo conceded. Turning around, he turned on the television with a nearby remote, switching to the news channel. The reporter was currently talking about some flooding which occurred in Taiwan after extreme rains. Duo frowned. 'Well, the news doesn't know anything, so maybe it's a person after all. A group would hardly be as easy to conceal.'

At this point, there was a knock at the door, and Duo started. He paused for a moment before biding Quatre goodnight and hanging up. Standing up, Duo gave the door one last odd look before proceeding towards it, making sure to look at the screen (a little rectangular LCD panel with a feed on one of the numbers fixed onto the outside of the door). He saw a man and a woman, both standing perfectly straight with impassive expressions on their faces. Their uniforms revealed their identities immediately, and Duo felt he sudden urge to run away. Instead, he pulled the door open, giving both his visitors a smile.

'Can I help you?' He asked, his voice calm and polite.

'Duo Maxwell?' The man asked, while his companion squirmed uncomfortably. Duo supposed they must have seen many people like him before, and knew for a fact that a smile was mostly a sugarcoating over a dangerous poison.

'Yes.' Duo stared, leaning against the doorframe while his right arm pressed against the other side, barring the visitors from coming in.

'I am the Chief of Defense at the Area 25 Research Facility.' The man introduced. 'My name is James Conley, and this is my secretary, Lela Raines.'

'And?'

'We are here to inform you of a military order.' Conley declared. 'May we come in?'

'I doubt you'd leave even if I said no.' Duo sighed, taking away his arm and showing his guests in. The two followed their way in behind Duo, and the braided man caught the secretary's look of distaste when she spotted some stray clothing lying at the door to his bedroom. He smiled at them and took a seat on the couch, eyeing them expectantly. Conley cleared his throat.

'Former Agent Duo Maxwell.' He declared, and Duo lifted an eyebrow skeptically. 'You have been selected to engage in a mission of utmost importance.'

'Like what?' Duo asked, violet eyes sweeping over the man speaking to him. He was stocky of build, with a fair amount of muscles. The guy had two pistols on him, one visibly at his hip and the other strapped to his boot. There was also a knife at his hip, sheathed in black along with his two guns. Duo had no doubt that if they were to engage in battle, this man would not stand a chance against him. With that done, his gaze fell on the secretary, and saw that she cringed when their eyes met. He smiled, this one would not pose a threat either.

'Capture and return an escapee, dead or alive.' Conley explained, his voice bland. 'Any questions?'

'Yea.' Duo's eyes flew back to his face once again. 'Did you notice the "retired" notice on my file?'

'Yes.' Conley's voice was deadpan. 'However, as an agent – current or former – it is your duty to serve when the need arises.'

Duo felt his left eye twitch – it was that duty word again.

'Also, the military holds you in very high esteem.' Conley definitely looked like he was reciting the lines from a previously written speech. 'Your record while serving was impeccable; you have been recommended by more than a few high ranking officials, and you have won five medals in the past, a true testament of your skill.'

'But in the end none of that matters.' Duo asked blandly. 'It all comes down to duty doesn't it?'

'Yes.'

His right thumb joined in with the twitching. The Chief of Defense seemed to notice, because he took an obvious step backwards. There was just something unnerving about assassins when their trigger fingers begin to twitch.

'Do I have a choice in this?'

'Technically, yes.' Conley answered, his face giving nothing away. 'However, as you know, there are consequences should you decline.'

'In other words.' Duo sighed. 'I don't have a choice at all.' He leaned back in his seat, feeling just a tad unhappy about the situation. At least Quatre was going to be pleased: Duo felt as if he had found the person responsible for the extra security around his mansion. 'Who do I have to eliminate?'

'His name is Heero Yuy.' Conley turned to his secretary, who passed him a sheet of paper, which he then passed to Duo. 'He is a top priority escapee.'

'I gathered as much.' Duo muttered dryly, taking the page and staring at the picture. A man in his mid-twenties, similar to Duo's own age, stared back at him. In the picture, he was wearing a black business suit, with a white shirt under. His hair was a messy, chocolate brown, but even so, there was nothing insensible about this man. His eyes were a cold Prussian blue, his jaw set, and his mouth in a firm line. From what Duo gathered from the picture, this man was definitely someone with a lot of skill, although what that skill was in doing was a different story. There was just something about those icy eyes which reminded Duo of his own eyes during the days when he was an assassin. It was an empty, unfeeling look which promised death without morose. 'How recent is this picture?'

'Three years old.' The secretary explained, giving her boss a break. 'However, we can assure you that he has not changed in appearance.'

'Is this file similarly old?' Duo asked, indicating at the details listed next to the picture.

'No, the file is mostly up-to-date.'

'Including the part that says he's dead?' Duo cocked an eyebrow. The secretary bristled slightly.

'That is an error, sir.' She explained. 'We would not be having this problem if he were dead, sir.'

'Don't call me "sir".' Duo sighed, eyes back on the file. 'It makes me feel old.'

'Sorry sir.'

Duo sighed again, loudly. The secretary squirmed and apologized yet again, this time refraining from adding the sir at the end. The braided man continued skimming over the information given, committing all the details to his mind. There was definitely something strangely familiar about this person, a thought which unnerved him. He was certain he had seen this person before, and the name was not that foreign either. He frowned.

'So, why do I have to eliminate him?'

'That is unimportant for your mission, Mr. Maxwell.' Conley answered this time. Duo gave him a look.

'Tell me now or I'll find out for myself.' Duo retorted with a careless wave of his hand. 'I can hack into your database easy and without being traced. So you can either tell me, or risk having me screw up your system simply for the sake of it.'

'He is…' Conley faltered, and Duo smiled. This was definitely a section the older man had not prepared. 'He is…Heero Yuy is a research subject.'

'What did you guys do?' Duo asked condescendingly. 'Make him ultra strong or something?'

'We…' Conley faltered yet again, and his secretary squirmed next to him. 'He was brought back to life.'

There was silence in the apartment, broken only by the secretary's nervous twitching and the ticking of the clock hanging off the wall. Duo simply stared, feeling numb shock creep into his brain. He gave himself a mental shake, alerting his mind out of the black hole it was in danger of falling into.

'That's taboo.' He said simply, obviously. There was nothing else he could say. 'You want me to destroy some guy for being the illegal result of an illegal experiment that nobody should even research about, let alone attempt.'

'Yes.'

'Where's the justice in that?' Duo asked, feeling suddenly very sick. Conley simply regarded him with a level stare.

'You are an assassin Maxwell, a tool for the military. You want no pretty words, so I will give you none. This is your assignment, and you have a week to complete it, six days if you exclude today. There is no need for any over-reactions or justice on Yuy's behalf. The guy was chosen as the subject of the experiment for a reason you do not need to know, and his past is also something you do not need to know. Do not research it Maxwell, lest you end up hating yourself and unable to complete this mission. The military considers this a high-priority, the government considers it at the top of their list. Just do your job. It is not imperative that he dies. Simply bring him back to the facility. You will be paid a large amount, he will be put back where he belongs, and everybody can continue with life. Are we clear?'

'Yes sir.' Duo growled, eyes on the floor. The two guests nodded a goodbye and left, but only after telling Duo that this was to be kept a secret from everybody, and that they would be sending over a man who would help him search for Yuy tomorrow. Duo then moved on to emphasize that he did not need somebody else's help, and demanded that they leave before he did something highly painful to the Chief of Security. There was a gruff affirmative and a bid goodbye before the door closed, and Duo was left alone on the couch with his face in his hands.

Heero Yuy's photograph lay on the coffee table, the image facing down.

* * *

Meanwhile, Heero Yuy stood in the shadows of an alley, eyes fixed on the Winner Mansion.

* * *

**Endnotes:**

(1) I...seriously don't know when Duo's birth date is, or if he even has one. The fourth of July is somehow always the first date that comes into my mind, even though I'm not American and I don't live anywhere close to America. I don't know, probably because of that movie Independence day...beh.

Things are going so quickly! Okay, probably not really, considering it's already the third chapter. But it feels fast to me! Well, anyway, Heero is poor, homeless sex on legs and Duo finally got his fateful job! I think that perhaps I made my timeframe a little short, considering everything is supposed to occur in one week. Oh well. I'll try and integrate some of the other G-boys, as I probably should and was planning on doing, but suddenly forgot where I was going to put them (moans pathetically). Anyway, hopefully I'll manage to get Wufei into the story by the next chapter, and perhaps Trowa. I can't really remember what I planned to do with them originally, but…Assassin will think of something…hopefully. Anyway, until next time folks!

Assassin


	4. Chapter Four: Meeting

**Progress: **4 of a proposed two figure sum**  
General Notes: **Yes, Assassin is being good isn't she! Two chapters in a week! WOOT! Well, anyway, decided to make up for making you guys wait by writing another chapter. Aren't you all proud of me? Well, anyway, read, enjoy and review!**  
Music: **If You – Escaflowne OST; Broken Wings – Trinity Blood; Beauty – Shaye; Bittersweet Symphony – the Verve; Mockingbird – Eminem; Geborben – die Fantastischen Vier

* * *

**Covetousness**

Chapter Four: Meeting  


Duo was furious as he slammed the door of his car shut and shot out of the basement car park, startling the guard at the gate as he passed by. He barely heard the man's shocked outcry as he sped through traffic, completely disregarding standard speed laws. Nearby cars honked at him, and several irritable drivers swore loudly through opened windows. But Duo did not care. The military had committed a taboo, accomplished something which they deemed too dangerous and made sure was banned in the first place, and now he was a part of it. The braided man cursed himself as he sped past a red light, weaving through the stunned drivers coming across the intersection, narrowing avoiding collision half a dozen times. He did not know why he agreed to the assignment, or why he did not refuse it the instant he learned what he was to do. Not that it mattered. If the military wanted him to do this assignment, then he would end up doing it. The only thing he could do to retaliate was possibly spread what it is that the government had done, but that would be childish and accomplish little more than spread wide, irrational panic. Conley had insisted that Yuy was a perfectly safe person, had he not? The escapee's only danger to society was to be discovered for what he was. Yuy would become an animal in a box, a reason for the public to revolt and slander the government, and although toppling the current leader may not be a completely bad thing, it was still stupid. As much as he hated to admit it, the military was right in trying to keep Yuy a secret.

If Duo caught the guy and did not kill him, then he would live a life as a guinea pig. He did not know who this Yuy person had been before dying and being revived, and it was probably safer if he did not know. If there was no other way around this problem, save accomplishing his task, then Duo would do it without feelings of sympathy. He knew that Yuy probably did not deserve what was happening to him, that he might have been a perfectly normal person before he died, and it was just luck he ended up on the research table. Although Duo highly doubted the possibility of such a statement, he could not deny it. Which brought him to the question of whether he should be aiming to kill Yuy or not. If given the choice, Duo would choose death. His body was not a toy for anybody to tamper with. But if the military revived Yuy once, what was the bet they would not do it again. Conley said they wanted the body back either way, but he did not say what they would do with it. On second thought, Duo probably did not want to know.

The braided man's stomach clenched almost painfully, and he felt the onset of guilt. He shook his head irritably. Guilt was something he did not have time for, and it was definitely going to interfere with his mission. His hand tightened around the steering wheel, feeling as if he might break it should he apply any more force. In a last attempt to distract himself, he turned on the radio and let his mind leave him as he drove on auto-pilot towards Quatre Winner's mansion.

* * *

Heero watched the guards wander, eyes darting with every step they took. He knew they were expecting him. He had come across the article regarding the birthday party of one Iria Winner, and who should he find on the list of guests but Trieze Khushrenada. He had been lurking in the nearby alleyways ever since he finished his dinner-on-the-go, but had been able to do little more than that. He had caught sight of this General Khushrenada in person though for a few brief moments before he entered the mansion, along with a woman Heero discovered to be Commander Une. Heero sighed as he sank back into the alleyways once more, feeling suddenly very tired. He was definitely not going to accomplish anything tonight, especially with all the guards obviously waiting for him to do something stupid like attempt a break in.

With one last glance at the mansion, Heero left the alleyway and walked away, shoulders hunched and gaze firmly fixed on the path before him.

* * *

Duo had mostly calmed down by the time he turned around one last corner and saw the Winner Mansion in the distance. He did not know what he was going to tell Quatre. Conley had made it quite specific that he was not to tell anybody, and he would not have shared the information with Quatre even if it had been an option. The young Winner heir had more than enough on his plate already, and Duo definitely did not need to add his own troubles to that.

Even from the distance, Duo could see the increase in security Quatre had been talking about. There were a multitude of guards everywhere, most of which were dressed accordingly in uniform, and a good deal who were simply wearing casual clothing. Duo suspected that he would discover more if he ventured any closer with a sigh, but felt a familiar feeling of unease tug at his mind. The government did not want the public to know of Heero Yuy, so why would they push the security up so high? If anything, Duo thought that that only heightened the thought that there may be something wrong. Conley had ensured him that Yuy was not dangerous, but the security around the Winner estate definitely contradicted that.

Duo's foot plunged down on the brake, sending his car into an odd sort of turn across the road. He flung open his door and looked out, seeing the pedestrian who had caught his attention had stopped, and was staring at him with an odd look. Blank Prussian blue met shocked violet, before Yuy gave a shrug of his shoulders, turned and continued walking away. Duo was still for a moment, the shock still present in his numb brain. Then the thought registered. Heero Yuy; target; walking away. The door slammed shut, there was another loud squeal of rubber tires rubbing against hard bitumen, and Duo was off, chasing after his unaware target.

He saw Yuy stop and fix him with a glare as he pulled up beside the other man. Reaching over, Duo unlocked the passenger door, and gave the blue-eyed man his most disarming smile.

'Hey buddy, need a lift?'

'No.' Yuy's response was cold, an obvious tone of irritation underlying the coldness.

'I bumped into you earlier didn't I?' Duo asked, suddenly remembering why the man looked so familiar. 'Remember, down on Collins Street? Who would have thought I'd run into you here!'

'Yes.' Yuy frowned. 'Most coincidental.'

'Where are you going?' Duo asked, still smiling. 'I can give you a lift anywhere.'

'No, thank you.' Yuy turned to keep going. Duo closed the door quickly, wound down the windows, and started driving alongside his target. Yuy gave him a glare out of the corner of his eye, and Duo was surprised by the intensity. If it was possible to kill with a look, Duo was sure he would have just died.

'Come on bud!'

'Do you not have better things to be doing with your time?' Heero asked irritably, although his voice managed to retain its calmness.

'Nope!' Duo responded jovially. 'My boss was a real prick at work today, so now I'm cruising around trying to dispel some of that pent up energy from earlier. It really would be no trouble if I give you a lift, it's not like I'm doing anything anyway.'

'I'm not in the mood for company.'

'Doesn't matter.' Duo smiled and patted the passenger seat encouragingly. 'I'll be as companionable or silent as you want. I just need some company myself, and you don't seem to be in a hurry to get anywhere.'

'Fine.' The word was said with such reluctance it made Duo smile more. Yuy took the seat beside him, closed the door and fixed Duo with a glare. Duo smiled, and pushed down on the pedal again, driving in the direction of the city.

'Where to, buddy?' He asked cheerfully.

'City.' Yuy growled back. 'And don't call me buddy.'

'I don't know your name.' Duo shrugged. 'Have to call you something.'

'Heero.' Yuy bit out. 'My name is Heero.'

'I'm Duo.' Duo returned.

'Strange name.' Heero muttered, staring out the window.

'Isn't it?' Duo smiled. 'But Heero isn't much better is it?'

'No.' Heero's eyes were sad for a moment, but it passed so quickly that Duo almost missed it. 'I guess not.'

* * *

Quatre felt terribly worried. From his vantage point on the balcony, he had a clear view of the road leading up to his family estate. He sighed as he leaned over the railing, feeling frustrated. He had definitely seen Duo's car there earlier, not to mention driving at top speed, such as Duo was prone to do whenever he was angry. But the car had skidded to a very messy halt halfway down the road, and Quatre had seen his best friend step out of the car to stare at a passing by person, get in again, and turn the car around. Quatre had watched his friend pester the pedestrian, and finally drive off with that person in his car. The blond sighed, eyes darting around between all the various guards hovering around his estate, and wondered dully whether it had something to do with that. Dare Quatre think that Duo was working for the military again, and that pedestrian had been a threat of some kind? Perhaps it had been a coworker or something, Quatre told himself sternly, not everybody Duo knew was a fugitive.

Waving the thought aside, Quatre went back inside, closing the balcony behind him. He poured himself a glass of cognac and downed it before falling backwards on his bed. His mind was a muddle as he stared up at the ceiling (which comprised of several panels of one-sided windows), seeing the gathering clouds and the promise of rain. He wondered if it would rain tonight, or if the clouds would just carry the rain with them and continue on their way.

It did not matter whether or not rain came in the end.

Quatre felt as if the storm happening within himself was more than enough.

* * *

'Looks like it's going to rain.' Duo commented, staring up at the clouds overhead. Next to him, Heero remained silent, his head leaning against the window and his eyes staring outside. Duo could tell what he was doing, and could not blame him. Heero was attempting to act casual and – through looking away and showing Duo a small section of his back – vulnerable. In doing so, he lowered Duo's guard and lured the driver into attacking him, should that be his intentions. However, any out of the ordinary attempts by Duo would be seen through the reflection on the window, leaving Heero ready at all times.

'So, where are you staying tonight?' Duo asked casually, eyes fixed on the road before him.

'At home.' Heero responded coldly. 'What did you think?'

'Nothing!' Duo defended, pouting for effect. 'I was just curious is all.'

'Hn.' Heero was silent again, eyes fixed on the window once more. Duo cursed himself for the question, knowing that his target was probably even more suspicious of him now. What had he been thinking Heero would say? That he was homeless, and allow Duo to offer him his own apartment? Duo hit himself mentally. He should concentrate on his mission instead. In fact, had he not just accomplished half his mission? He had found Heero Yuy, had him in his car, and could easily take him back to the research facility. So why was he still stalling and asking silly questions? Was he actually going to release Heero later on?

Duo's eyes flicked over to Heero again, and saw the man watching him through the reflection. He could handle Heero, he decided. When they stopped at the next red-light, he could pretend to be fishing for a cigarette and reach into his jacket where he kept his gun. One shot through the head or chest, and Heero would be dead. Clean, efficient, and he would have completed his mission. Conley would be happy, the General who ordered this entire operation would be happy, the government would be able to release that breath they have been holding, and everything could return back to normal.

But Heero would be dead. Heero, who as far as Duo was concerned, had done nothing wrong save become the test subject for the military scientists. He probably had no say in being brought back to life, and was definitely getting no choice in the matter of remaining alive or not. Duo mentally berated himself. Was this not what Conley had reminded him specifically not to do? What all of his previous superiors have told him? He was an assassin, and his job was to kill. It was not a matter of who it was, or what they did, or whether they deserved death. They were all names and lifeless people; people with no pasts and definitely no futures; people Duo did not need to worry about.

'Did Khushrenada send you?' Duo jolted at Heero's sudden question, taking his eyes off the road quickly to stare at the other man. Heero was still staring at the window, but his fierce, blue eyes met Duo's through the reflection.

'Who?' Duo asked, but felt his stomach clench.

'General Trieze Khushrenada.' Heero said slowly, emphasizing on every syllable.

'Pardon?' So that was the head poncho who wanted Heero dead. Duo had only met Khushrenada once, in his second year of working as an assassin, and not much had been said. The general thanked him for his good work, Duo gave a very standard reply, and the two walked their separate ways. 'I don't know a Khushrenada.'

'Don't lie.' Heero turned away from the window. 'I've been watching you ever since I first stepped into this car. You keep watching me out of the corner of your eyes, strike strange conversations, ask strange questions, and you keep clutching the wheel tightly every-so-often, and furrowing your brows. The general gave you an order to capture me, and now you are wondering how to get me to the research facility without me noticing, because you know fully well that I have been watching you, and that I do not trust you the slightest.'

An overall good assessment, Duo thought, too good. He was almost correct on everything, save a few minor discrepancies. Duo now knew for sure that Heero Yuy was not just some random person who was experimented on. Luckily, Heero had not guessed that he was an assassin, which was going to work in Duo's favor. Even if the other man now knew he worked for the government, he had no clue what Duo's actual mission was. Death was easy to deliver, and it now seemed as if taking Heero in alive would be out of the question.

'Lovely assessment.' Duo murmured, eyes fixed on the road before him. 'But it's a bit late now isn't it?'

'I'm not scared to go back to that place.' Heero growled, blue eyes sharp. 'I just want to know how I got there in the first place.'

'You can't remember?' Duo asked, stopping before a red light and turning to stare at the other man. Heero's gaze fell to his lap, but there was no mistaking the anger there.

'No.' He growled. 'I can not remember how I got there, or why I was chosen. I just woke up on a damn bed with cords sticking out of my arm, and a mob of strange doctors seemingly finding my ability to speak fascinating.'

'As they would.' Duo chuckled lamely. 'You are the first after all.'

'First what?' Heero asked sharply, fierce eyes suddenly glaring at Duo full force. Duo felt a shiver pass down his spine, and knew without a doubt that he should not have said that. So it seemed that Heero did not know he was brought back to life, and he could not remember how he got there, so did that mean he could not remember anything at all? He knew his name was Heero, but was that the only thing he knew?

'What do you know about yourself?' Duo asked, genuinely curious. Heero gave him a furious look before his gaze dropped yet again.

'My name is Heero.' Was all he said.

'That's it?' Duo asked incredulously. 'No family, no friends, no anything?'

'Nothing.' Heero's messy hair fell forwards, obscuring his eyes, but Duo could still see the weakly shielded pain there. He felt his stomach clench unhappily. He had always pretended his targets had no past, but this one actually did not have one. Duo could feel his heart go out to the other man, feel his grief and irritation. Had he not lived a lie himself? Being an orphan and raised by an orphanage that no longer existed. His name was not Duo Maxwell and his birth date was not July the fourth. But he had been able to make his own memories, even if a majority of them were sad and things he would rather forget. Memories were often taken for granted, and the man sitting in his passenger seat was definitely testimony to their importance.

Duo turned the car suddenly, skidding off the street to ride onto the nearby pedestrian street, alarming two girls who had been walking nearby at the time. They gave him a look before walking off, but Duo hardly noticed. Heero stared at him, a question on his suddenly blank face.

'Go.' Duo ordered, pointing at the door. 'Leave.'

'But…' Heero stumbled on the words, his face suddenly the image of shock. 'Why?'

'Don't ask, just leave.' Duo pointed at the door again. 'Leave now.'

Heero was still looking at him distrustfully as he opened the door and stepped outside. Duo reached over and wrenched the door shut, but leaving the windows unwound.

'The next time I see you, I will take you to the authorities.' He said quietly, but loud enough for the other man to hear. 'Until then, take care of yourself.'

And with that, he stepped down on the pedal and the car accelerated forwards with a lurch, alarming the passing vehicles. He saw Heero still standing there on the sidewalk, growing smaller as he drove away, finally disappearing when he turned into another street. The rational side of Duo's mind was furious. He had his target in his car, and he let the man leave. No, he forced the other man to leave. He had been lucky to run into the guy in the first place, and was now letting him get away. Who knew how long it would take for him to find Heero again, and yet he had let the other leave without so much as a thought against the subject. But the other side of his mind congratulated him, and Duo smiled slightly as he took another turn – a bittersweet smile of mixed pain and a sense of gladness.

He let Heero off so that he could find his past, and have memories with him when he died.

Death owed him at least that much.

* * *

**Endnotes:**

Wow…I don't actually know what to say about that. I did not plan on them meeting so quickly, but, well, allowed myself to be carried off by the impulse. I suppose I can safely say that I do not like long, stretched out stories, even when I'm reading it. I think Gundam Seed Destiny has further fueled that, especially since I watch Gundam Seed, and then Destiny and notice the dramatic decline of action. I mean, Kira spends the first eleven or so episodes staring at sunsets! Well, anyway, that was totally unrelated and random, but well, I had to rant at somebody about it.

Okay, I did not add in Wufei and Trowa like I said I would. Damn. I was going to! I swear! But somewhere along the way, they just got lost. Maybe I'll finally manage to bring them in next chapter…hopefully. It would be pretty damn lame if I forget again! Don't get me wrong, I really like the other boys too, but…well, this chapter just sort of forced my plans back a few paces and pulled certain other plans forwards a fair amount. But…well, I feel fairly satisfied with that chapter. It's a bit strange though, because I wrote it over two days, and it took me a while to get the hang on what I was writing again. I think next time, I'll just do the chapter all in one night, so as to not get sidetracked by whatever it is that I see or hear between the two periods.

In any case, hope you all enjoyed that chapter. And as always, remember to review, and Assassin will see you again next chapter!

Assassin


	5. Chapter Five: A Bar

**Progress: **5 of a proposed two figure sum**  
General Notes: **Here to post yet another chapter of my story, and thank you guys once again for taking the time to read it. I've been having a totally shoddy day since my PDA died and now I have to part with it for a good week so that some people can take a good look at it, determine the problem and fix it. Damn technology, it always dies on me!**  
Music: **June – Piano Version – by somebody Chinese; Asia – Doremidan; Everlasting Snow – Dream; Mockingbird – Eminem; Our Love – F.I.R; Can't Lose You – F4; Memory – Gundam Seed Symphony Soundtrack; Contract – Hikaru Nanase; Come on Closer – Jem; Moonlight Sonata – Beethoven; Fantasy Impromptu – Chopin; Star Wars Imperial Theme – John Williams

* * *

**Covetousness**

Chapter Five: A Bar

Heero wandered aimlessly down Mathews Road, hands stuffed in tight jean pockets and blue eyes fixed firmly on the road before him. It had not been long since Duo let him go, and Heero still could not help but feel unnerved. He could not understand why Duo had let him go. Was it out of pity? Or was he one of those people who enjoyed the thrill of the hunt? The look on the violet-eyed man just before he drove off was definitely not one of a hunter anticipating a good hunt, or any hunt for that matter. Duo had appeared sincere enough, and Heero could not help but feel irritated by it. He may be a fugitive suffering from chronic amnesia, but he definitely did not need the pity of a man sent out to retrieve him. Still, he was not going to throw away the freedom the braided-man had given him. With a sigh, Heero turned his gaze skywards, seeing gathering rain clouds and a crack of lightning sear in the distance. The thought of finding a place to stay for the night flickered across his mind once more, but a quick rummage through his right pocket reminded him of his current financial problems. Maybe he would find a secluded alleyway or a bridge of some kind, Heero thought wryly, as long as it ended up being dry and kept him away from the police.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, jolting Heero and forcing him to walk that much faster. He did not have a destination in mind, but the idea of getting under some shelter before rain began was highly appealing. A bar at the intersection between Mathews and William caught his gaze, and he proceeded inside it. Even if he did not have the cash for alcohol, the place would provide for a good shelter, even if it was for the time between now and when he got kicked for not buying anything. Hopefully the bar was full, Heero thought as he pushed through the door, dully noting that he did not even know what day of the week it was.

The bar was small with dim lighting, a small dance floor, a most tiny stage and a little bar off to the side. Heero wondered dully if the theme of the bar was the word small, but regardless, the place seemed popular enough, although it was not exactly the popular Heero had in mind. The stage was dominated by a guy with brown hair, who was currently playing what sounded like Fantasy Impromptu, although the blue-eyed man had no idea how he knew. Silently, he committed the thought to his memory, hoping that it would help in the future in his attempt to find himself. A few people were dancing, although they were mostly couples dressed in business suits. On closer inspection, it appeared that practically everybody was dressed formally, giving Heero a most uncomfortable feeling of standing out. He stared at his own jeans and shirt attire with distain, and hoped desperately that nobody would notice, even though he was already getting a few curious glances from a couple of people at the bar. Taking a deep breath, Heero averted his eyes and walked around to the other side of the dance floor to take a seat at one of the tables there. Three men in business suits, currently sitting at the table next to him, looked up when he sat down, but did not pay him any more mind. Heero was glad as he placed his right arm on the table and cushioned a cheek in his hand, eyes straying around the bar, finally coming to a halt on the pianist. Unconsciously, his eyes closed, and he let the melody take him away.

A stone pavilion stood next to a large lake, color gray, although Heero knew it was normally white. There was a small amount of green moss growing on the side nearest to the lake, an area that was definitely difficult to tend to, and the three steps leading up to the pavilion were chipped and worn, with dark smudges on the corners. He could make out a small round table in the center of the pavilion, surrounded by two chairs made out of glass. On the surface of the table was a beautiful chessboard, also shaped out of glass, with crystal pieces, some clear and others a light shade of blue. The blue side had won, having cornered the clear king with a castle and a queen. But the blue king was lying on the chessboard, half rolling off, a section of it broken, shards of blue crystal scattered over a corner of the board. Looking up, Heero located a large house no so far away, a large white house with tall, stone pillars and wide windows and intricate carvings around the main door. The door itself was a dark shade of cream, and had been left ajar, showing only darkness inside. Heero took a step away from the pavilion, suddenly wanting to go inside, but a cracking noise alarmed him. He stared down quickly, seeing broken glass under his feet, glass which appeared to be from a glass flute. He looked up again, and the door had opened wider, but still showed only darkness. He took another step towards it, ignoring the sound of cracking glass under his feet. He had just stepped out of the pavilion, black, leather shoes finally finding the grass when the image disappeared.

Heero blinked once, feeling uncoordinated for a moment as his eyes took up the dimly light insides of the building he was in, the business men at the table next to his, the various couples still on the dance floor, and the brunet playing on the piano. He remembered that he was in a bar, a convenient little place to hide from the rain, which reminded him suddenly, and left him in a few moments of absolute silence, ears straining to catch whether it was raining outside or not. However, despite the soft melody of the piano and the way people tended to murmur instead of speaking normally, he could hear nothing of the outside. It was only then that Heero noticed the waitress standing beside his table, dressed in a conservative dark-brown outfit and holding a small, barely noticeable pad in her hands.

'Sir?' She asked, and Heero had the suspicion that she had been hear for quite a while. 'Would you like something to drink?'

'Um.' Heero thought for a moment, the idea of getting alcohol definitely not on the top of his to-do list, but he felt as if he needed to get something, if he was hoping to remain in the bar. 'May I have a bottle of beer?'

'Certainly.' She scribbled quickly on her pad. 'What kind sir?'

'Kind?' Heero felt stumped for a moment, his mind suddenly deciding to draw a complete blank. 'Actually, may I change that to a gin martini?'

'Sure?' The waitress scribbled on her pad again before turning around and walking off, leaving Heero to wonder what a lime martini was. He did not have to speculate for long though, for the waitress soon returned with a cloudy drink in a small glass that looked awfully like a triangle on a stick. He paid fifteen dollars for his drink, and the waitress left, although it did leave Heero wondering what kind of life he lived previously if he could remember the name of such an expensive, cloudy, alcoholic drink when he could not remember what his last name was. Lifting the glass to his face, Heero took a whiff of his drink, made a small face at the foreign smell, then took a small sip. His tongue screamed at the unusual taste, and his throat burned as the drink slipped down his throat. He placed the drink back on the tabletop quickly, breathing in quickly and choking slightly. The three men at the next table stared at him, but he waved them off quickly. Thankfully, they decided to leave him with some shred of dignity and returned back to their conversation, while Heero recovered from his small fit.

Still breathing harshly, Heero glared at the drink sitting on the table, wondering if he could make the thing combust simply for being the target of his irritation. He was certain now that despite whatever he had been previously, as long as he liked drinking that drink, then he had at least one masochistic streak. Still, as he watched the thing through cold, blue eyes, he got the urge to take another sip. If not for anything else save that he just wasted a good portion of the little amount of cash he had left on a colored drink which burnt his throat. With a sigh, he grabbed the glass and took another sip, and managed to drink it without too much fuss this time. His mouth still tingled, his throat burned and his stomach felt like he had just kindled a fire there, but it was tolerable. Shrugging, he downed the rest of the glass in one gulp. His brain screamed at him that the drink had been a bad idea, but the rest of him seemed to like it, despite the fact that his entire esophagus was burning in a way he had never felt before (or if he had, he could not remember it). Setting the small glass down, he stared forward once more to see the pianist once again, now in the middle of playing the third movement of the Moonlight Sonata. Unfortunately, this piece did not set off a weird memory, and Heero felt almost disappointed. Still, he knew the piece, which meant something about his previous life, even if he could not quite figure it out at present. Although something about expensive drinks and an interest in classical music put him under the impression that he definitely lived well, whether it be his own wealth or inheritance. Perhaps he would check up his name tomorrow on the city database. The name "Heero" was slightly unusual, and he was willing to bet there were not that many, especially in this city.

The image of the pavilion flashed across his mind again, and Heero wondered for a moment with dull eyes still fixed on the pianist just what it had been of. Was that white house he saw his own? Or that of somebody he knew? Either way, it had been in a rich neighborhood, or so the blue-eyed man assumed. He did not think that there would be houses so large, they could only be described as mansions, in random parts of the town. Unless it had been in another country, which he highly hoped was not true – his twenty-eight dollars was definitely not going to sustain for a trip out of the country.

The sound of metal chair-legs scraping across tiled floor snapped Heero out of his musing. He turned slowly, not wanting to give away his jumpiness, and found the pianist who had been playing earlier sitting next to him. At close range, Heero found that the musician had emerald-green eyes, and his hair was fixed in the most unusual fashion, with most of it hanging neatly before one eye. He appeared to be in his early twenties, perhaps of similar age to Heero (although the blue-eyed man had little ideas as to how old he, himself was), and was wearing black pants, white shirt and a navy blue tie. The look really led Heero into believing that the guy had only just got off work at an office. Deciding that the other man was not going to speak anytime soon, Heero quirked his eyebrow and tilted his head in an obvious question.

'Thought you could make do with some company.' He explained, hailing a waitress and ordering a butterscotch, which Heero's mind instantly registered as the name of a drink. 'I saw you staring while I was playing.'

'Fantasy Impromptu.' Heero murmured.

'Yea.' His companion nodded. 'You like it?'

'Something along those lines.' The blue-eyed man found himself responding. 'It's by Chopin isn't it?'

'Yep.' The other guy smiled. 'One of my favorite pieces, was what got me interested in the piano in the first place.'

'You like the piano then?'

'Sure.' He shrugged. 'I just like music in general really, so in the end, it doesn't really matter what I'm playing. When I was younger, I had an infatuation with the flute, still do, even now. But there are just some pieces the flute can't play, and that's why I learnt the piano. But this is only my part-time job though.' Here, he reclined in his seat and accepted hid drink when the waitress returned. 'It works well enough though. I don't have the cash to buy a piano of my own, after spending the last of my savings on buying an apartment downtown, but the guys here pay me to practice on theirs. So, I'm not complaining!'

'Guess you wouldn't.' Heero murmured, eyes roving back to the stage, on which a girl with red hair was busy playing Beethoven's Pathetique.

'I'm Trowa by the way.' The man introduced, stretching out his right hand. Heero shook it, his grip firm.

'Heero.' Heero returned. 'Pleasure to make your acquaintance.'

'You always this formal?' Trowa asked with a laugh as he took another sip of his drink before setting it down on the table. Heero shrugged, eyes flicking around the bar once again. They were both silent for a moment, with Trowa finishing off his drink and Heero watching the girl play with a glazed look. 'You know, you look kind of familiar.'

'Pardon?' Heero snapped up quickly, eyes fixed on Trowa. The emerald-eyed man shrugged, setting down his glass and stretching slightly. 'I just feel like I've seen your face somewhere. You come here often?'

'I'm not sure.' Heero sighed. 'Walk down the street, spot a bar and enter is what I generally do, so I can not say with any certainty whether I have been here previously.'

'Carefree aren't you?' Trowa asked jokingly, hailing the waitress once again. 'Want a drink? It's on me, since I get free drinks anyway. One of the many quirks of working here.'

'I guess.' Heero shrugged. 'You don't have to, and I'm trying to keep myself from getting too drunk.'

'Another glass won't hurt.' Trowa smiled. 'You look like you can take more than just one glass. So, what's it going to be?'

'Gin martini.' Heero said immediately. Trowa nodded and placed the order with a blue mojito. The waitress nodded and walked off while Heero wondered dully why anybody would name a drink mojito. Trowa seemed to catch his frown, because he shrugged and responded with a "it tastes alright, even if it does sound like something from a childish cartoon."

Somehow, the bright blue coloring did not warm Heero up to the drink at all, even if it did not come in a flimsy little triangular glass.

* * *

Duo yawned as he fell back on his bed, still dressed in the same clothes he had been wearing earlier. He felt more tired than he had been in months, and the pounding in his head was promising a horrible headache. By tomorrow, he probably would not have the strength to get up and call his boss to tell him he was not feeling well, not that the slave-driver would care. Even now, the mere idea of a shower was making him groan, just as his stomach made a similar noise, only twice as loud. Duo cursed louder, his voice echoing around his apartment. He was hungry, he had had no dinner, and his stomach was demanding food. Unfortunately, his bones felt as if they would break if he stood, and his head was beating to its own rhythm. As if he was not in enough pain as it was, the phone suddenly began to ring, and when he refused to leave his room to pick it up, his cell phone began to ring as well. Duo let out a cry of exasperation before jumping up irritably, knocking over a chair in the process, and snatching the vibrating, metallic object off his desk. He flipped open the lid with a snap and pressed the evil object to his ear, before growling out a very impatient hello.

'Don't snap my ear off Maxwell.' Quatre's voice sounded through the phone, although his tone was not nearly as sharp as his words, almost as if he was suffering from a long day as well. Duo sighed, turned, and fell back on the bed once more, with his right hand holding the phone in place while his left massaged his temple in circular movements.

'Sorry Q.' He yawned widely, feeling his eyelids drop. 'I've just had a long night.'

'I saw you coming over before.' Quatre's voice was more worried than disappointed. 'Who was the guy you picked up?'

'Some guy who needed a lift to the city.' Duo replied, hoping desperately that Quatre would not ask him for anything specific. He was proud to say that he never lied. True, he bent the truth on occasions, and walked wide circles around them, but it still did not change the fact that he simply did not lie. He was also happy to declare that he had managed to keep to the "run, hide but never lie" motto for as long as he lived, and definitely did not feel like breaking it any time soon. 'I was just feeling a little stressed, and he looked like he could use some help.'

'I was neglected for some random guy you met on the street?' Quatre asked skeptically. 'What a kind friend you are Duo Maxwell.'

'You know it.' Duo grinned, just as his stomach rumbled once again. 'Ah great, Hungers strikes back and with a vengeance.'

'It's ten-thirty Duo.' Quatre's voice was one of exasperation. 'Please don't tell me you haven't had dinner yet.'

'Fine, I won't tell you.' Duo sat up slowly, using his left arm to push himself off the bed. The room swam around him, making him feel slightly sick. He was suddenly reminded of why he had been lying down in the first place, and promptly fell back once more, one hand clamped around his head. Quatre made a concerned noise through the phone, but Duo managed to intercept before the other man managed to warp himself into a mother hen. 'I'm just a little tired, a little irritated, a little hungry, and a tad overworked. I'll take a day off work tomorrow, spend the entire day on my couch and watch some movies which will not mention the word "duty", eat a bunch of cheap and unhealthy fast food, and sleep lots.'

'I take it that work didn't go all that great?' Quatre mumbled. 'And what about the word "duty"?'

'It sucks.' Duo growled. 'Really, really sucks.'

'I'll bring you some food tomorrow.' The Arabian promised over the phone. 'Our cook absolutely outdid herself today, it's a shame you didn't come and enjoy it. But I'll bring you some tomorrow so you won't have to spend the entire day eating two-minute noodles. It definitely won't be as good as it was, but you'll like it regardless.'

'Sure Q.' Duo smiled into the phone. 'Yea, you come tomorrow.'

'It's late Duo, you should rest.'

'It's ten-thirty, mother.' Duo replied dryly.

'Go to bed Duo Maxwell.' Quatre commanded with an air of importance. 'You definitely sound like you could do with some rest.'

'Will do.' Duo smiled, although Quatre could not see him. He murmured a quick goodbye, and his friend did the same, before the line went dead and he was left lying on the bed, staring up at the white ceiling above.

Heero Yuy's face flickered across his mind, and Duo suddenly remembered the look of pure pain when the man admitted that he could not remember anything. His left arm draped itself across his eyes, obscuring his view, but still, Heero's face remained. A test subject for the military; a specimen they did not want. Conley spoke of Heero as if he was a lab rat, whose sole purpose was to be experimented on and killed when the scientists were through. But Heero was not a lab rat. He was every bit as human as Duo was, and felt pain just as easily. For a moment, Duo could picture Heero sitting in a laboratory, dressed in a white smock with tubes feeding into him and surrounded by eager doctors scribbling hasty notes on notepads. He knew that if he was given the choice of a life like that or death, then he would choose death, no questions asked. He wondered dully what Heero would choose when the time came. Would he even give Heero a choice? Silently, he berated himself. He was getting too much into this situation, he was feeling sympathy and pity and most of all, injustice for his blue-eyed target. Duo cut the chain of thoughts immediately, knowing that he was treading on dangerous grounds. He had no choice over the matter, so better keep the situation down-pat and keep himself reserved. It would not do if he stood before Heero and found himself unable to pull the trigger.

Silently, Duo reminded himself that he had promised there would be no more killings, no more deaths. He had killed enough people already, especially when that little boy died. Now that he thought about it, that little boy was much like Heero now: somebody who was inadvertently involved in something that was completely not of their choosing. Or rather, Duo was almost completely sure that Heero had not chosen to be brought back to life. That picture on his coffee table, and the look in those eyes when he met him in person today, told of a man who would have accepted death if that was his only option. Not somebody who would have clamped on to the idea of living enough to let himself be turned into a lab rat for a bunch of curious scientists whose only undiscovered area was the plane of the death.

'I wonder how he died in the first place.' Duo murmured.

The walls did not answer.

* * *

**Endnotes:**

This chapter was rather unsatisfying, if I do say so myself. Even from my point of view as the person who's writing it, I still think that this chapter was a bit repetitive. I suppose I just had to get my nerves back into the writing mode again, or something like that. Trowa was terribly out of character, but somehow, I found that I couldn't really help it. The only way for him and Heero to meet was for him to be a little extroverted, far more than being in character would allow. Sigh. I still ended up splitting hairs there, trying to think of another way for those two to meet. I must say though, I originally did not intend on them meeting at a bar, but somehow, things turned out that way. Which brings me to another point: I am sorry for the lame description of the bar and the drink names and/or descriptions, if I fudged up anything. Personally, I've never been into a bar before. My age won't allow it, and my face isn't exactly mature enough for me to just pass by unnoticed. As for the drinks, the only thing I've ever had that's stronger than beer is some cognac of some brand I cannot remember, and a little bit of spirits (by little, I mean less than half a teaspoon, as a dare from one of my cousins). So, I don't really know about drinks. I did go online to search up the names though! Yes, I did do research. A martini sounds common enough, although I'm not quite sure about the other drinks. Personally, I'm not much of an alcohol fan, but bars are a brilliant place to meet people.

The piano pieces I used in this chapter were all amongst my favorites. I simply adore Chopin's Fantasy Impromptu, and Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, although the third movement is something my Elf friend adores more than me. Pathetique is also a lovely piece. It's often on loop the instant I get home everyday, the CD courtesy of my dear Elf friend.


	6. Chapter Six: Modifications

**Progress: **6 of 14**  
General Notes: **New chapter up, w00t! I hope you guys enjoy this new chapter, although I have to say something now. I've pretty much finished the entire story and...wait for it...I'd have to be honest with you guys, there is surprisingly little 1x2. There's enough 1+2 for me to keep telling you guys that this is still a romance fic and all that, but yea...nothing particularly strong should I say? Urm..yea. Anyways, hope you guys still enjoy it despite the lack of lemons and such... **  
Music:** The Battle – Gladiator OST; Only Time – Enya; Tsukihime OST

* * *

**Covetousness**

Chapter Six: Modifications

There was a loud rapping sound coming from the door, mingled with the sound of an irritable man, trying to attract the attention of the person who owned the apartment. With a frown on his face, he checked the address on the slip of paper in his hands, confirming that he was indeed knocking on the right door. He knocked again, louder this time, knowing full well that the girl across the hall had opened her door twice to see what all the commotion was about. The man growled, already feeling a great distaste for the man he was about to meet. There just could not be anything good about a person who could not keep appointments. With a sigh of exasperation, he fished out his cell phone, quickly punching in numbers and pressing the call button. He heard the ringing of a phone coming from within the apartment room, but nobody answered, and soon, the answering machine switched on with a cheerful "Either I'm out or too damn lazy to pick up the phone, so leave a message and I might just call you back." The man scowled again, pressing down on the hang-up button with much more force than required, before dialing a second number. With one ear pressed to his phone and the other pressed to the door, the man waited agitatedly for a response. Like the previous phone, he could hear the cell phone go off somewhere inside the house, although it was far softer than the other phone had been, implying that it was probably in a different room. Still, there was no response.

If it was possible to fully despise somebody before even having the chance to meet them, then that was his feeling.

For Wufei Chang, one of the most fundamental basics of life after courtesy, being strong and always supporting justice was to be punctual. In all his life, he had never been late once to a meeting or appointment. There had never been a single blemish next to his name during his years in school, and his work record was cleaner than a piece of plain paper. He prided himself in always being on time. It emphasized his professionalism, insured that he never missed out on anything vital, and most of all, it was common courtesy, and courtesy was also amongst the list of fundamental basics. Unfortunately, it appeared that his partner for this particular assignment had never learnt of such things, which was why he was still standing outside the door after twenty minutes of loud rapping and calling. That was another thing that irritated him: wasting time, and he had just wasted twenty minutes of his life, and as far as Wufei was concerned, no matter how good an agent this Maxwell was, he was not going to be able to give Wufei back the twenty minutes he had just wasted.

Yes, he knew he definitely hated this Maxwell now.

A very loud thump sounded from the room behind the door, followed by a loud crash and a stream of colorful curses. Wufei smiled irately, knowing that his new partner was finally awake. He pounded the door a few times extra, just to remind Maxwell that he was there and still waiting. Somebody (most likely Maxwell) grumbled loudly, and muttered something about waking up too early and the world being against him, before the door was wrenched open and Wufei found himself staring into a pair of sleepy violet eyes, both of which were screaming (despite their drowsiness) something along the lines of "piss off!" But Wufei only smirked before righting his posture and introducing himself.

'Agent Maxwell.' Wufei announced. 'Agent Wufei Chang, assigned to be your partner for this mission.'

'Mission?' Maxwell's eyes were almost completely closed, and his grip relaxed around the door handle, almost slipping off. 'What mission?'

'I have been told that the Chief of Security has briefed you previously.' Wufei said stoically. 'However, it would be much appreciated if you let me in so I can inform you of the full details regarding this task.'

'Task?' Maxwell asked, almost as if the word was foreign to him. 'What does "task" mean?'

'Get out of the way!' Wufei growled, pushing past Maxwell after feeling the final vestiges of his patience snap. Maxwell moved without complaint, closing the door behind Wufei as he entered. The Chinese man stood still for a moment, taking in the state of the lounge.

The lounge suite was covered in at least three layers of laundry, both dirty and clean. The coffee table before it held a bowl of fruit (which appeared plastic), a glass of half finished coffee, and a bowl of uncooked noodles, currently in the process of becoming a large chunk mush. Lying under all that was a mound of mismatched papers, some white and others in varying degrees of yellow. On the side, on top of a separate mound of papers was a picture of a man with cold, blue eyes and tousled, brown hair. The rest of the room was in a likewise state of chaos, almost as if an earthquake had struck, followed directly after by a tornado, then a second earthquake. Wufei breathed in deeply, feeling his temper fray.

'What the hell is this?' He asked calmly, although his eyes were burning with outrage.

'Some people call it a lounge.' Maxwell responded sleepily, tripping over a pair of jeans on the floor as he made his way towards the kitchen.

'This is a pig sty!' Wufei cried, pointing at the carpet of dirty laundry. 'When was the last time you did your laundry?'

'I can't actually remember…' Maxwell replied, nudging into the walls as he tried to make his way through the small distance between the kitchen bench and the other wall. 'I think it was about a month ago.'

'A month ago?' Wufei was speechless. Maxwell flashed him a grin from behind the kitchen counter, and he felt his head go faint. 'Why do I feel like I just stepped into a biohazard?'

'Oh, you have.' Maxwell responded brightly, rummaging through the fridge for something pre-made and not overdue. 'But don't worry, I'm sure you won't die from it.'

'Real comforting Maxwell.' Wufei responded weakly as he proceeded towards the couch, and nudged himself a small space amongst the dirty laundry with his handgun. Silently, he reminded himself to soak his gun in disinfectant as soon as he got home, even if it meant having to oil his gun thoroughly all over again. Bracing himself, Wufei sat himself down on the edge of the couch, hoping to get as little of Maxwell's possibly growing bacterial colonies on himself. A very thorough shower came to mind, and Wufei added it hastily to the list of things he must do as soon as he returns home.

'You want anything to eat Wuffi?' Maxwell asked from the kitchen, his voice slightly muffled from the packet of instant pumpkin soup he was carrying with his mouth.

'Not from this place.' Wufei responded stiffly. 'And my name is Wufei.'

'Aww, nothing wrong with my dump Wu.'

'Wufei.' The Chinese man responded, feeling a vein pulse near his temple. Maxwell only chuckled, returning moments later with a bowl of orange paste and a plate of toast. The braided man set his meal down immediately on the coffee table, not even bothering to look at the papers he was dropping his items down on, before taking a seat next to Wufei, completely ignoring the heap of clothing he was sitting on.

'So.' Maxwell smiled happily. 'Start talking Fei.'

'Wufei.' Wufei growled, before clearing his voice and launching into his briefing. 'Our mission is to capture the escapee, Heero Yuy, and return him to the 25th laboratory, dead or alive. We have five days to accomplish this, including today. Headquarters were not particularly specific about anything else, save that this is a top priority case, and that we were allowed to do everything in our power to find him. We are banned from speaking to anyone else about this case, and we are not to involve the public in any way. Conley was very specific about being as discrete as possible.'

'Lovely.' Duo yawned, grabbing a piece of toast from the top of his pile. 'Which brings me to the question: how are we supposed to find him?'

'Like we find any other man.'

'This guy doesn't have a memory.' Duo pointed out, tearing a corner off his toast and throwing it into his mouth. 'So he isn't exactly going to move around like a regular person.'

'I did some research on the matter.' Wufei pulled a silver flash-disk out of his pocket. 'You have a computer of some kind don't you?'

'Yea.' Duo pointed a finger in the direction of his room. 'It's in my bedroom, although you probably wouldn't feel comfortable going in there, considering your reaction to my lounge.'

'Let's just talk about it for the moment then.' Wufei said stiffly, tucking the flash-disk back into his pocket. 'We can um…clean your place up a bit after you finish eating, and then get some actual work done.'

'As you wish Wuffers.' Maxwell smirked, his violet eyes dancing with mirth.

'Wufei!' The Chinese man returned irritably, giving Maxwell an icy glare. 'The files on Yuy are very hard to find. I spent the night looking for information and barely found anything out of the ordinary. I must say that I was extremely surprised about that: the only people who have so little files on themselves are people in the spying business and shady underworld lords.'

'So Yuy is a shady underworld lord?' Maxwell asked, quirking his eyebrow for effect. Wufei gave him a glare that said in simple words that he was not finished.

'No.' Wufei growled. 'Even people in the underworld have more information than this guy. Besides, I wasn't finished. He could also be one more thing.'

'What?' Maxwell asked unconcernedly, reaching over to grab his pumpkin soup.

'An assassin.' Wufei answered, reaching into his pocket to pull out his memory stick. He stared at it for a moment while Maxwell remained silent, save for the slurping noises he was making with the soup. He had not told Maxwell about how strange Yuy's files were, although Maxwell would find out soon enough as soon as he had the flash-disk in his computer. Wufei stood up quickly, startling Maxwell. 'Let's clean up your dump and make it easier to maneuver. The rest of Yuy's data would make more sense if I showed you first.'

'Roger that Fei Fei.' Duo said easily, placing down his half finished bowl of soup and marching towards his room. 'We'll start with my bedroom, I suppose.'

* * *

Duo and Wufei sat before a loading computer, with Wufei looking as if he was going to be ill and Duo feeling as if he had exercised way beyond his quota for the year. They had spent two hours in total cleaning up all the trash in his house before Wufei deemed it "vaguely hygienic", although the things they found during those two hours had left Wufei in a sort of agitated state. Duo had the feeling that the Chinese man was just itching to run off home and have a clean shower, and could not help but grin. He was not really a sadist, but Wufei was just plain amusing when he was neurotic.

The computer finally finished loading, and Wufei jammed his flash-disk into the USB slot quickly, eager to get things over and done with quickly so he could leave no doubt. Duo watched quietly as the other man worked, opening the folder to the external drive and selecting a document amongst the many there. The page opened, and revealed the very same document Duo had been presented with the previous day, although the part about being deceased had been changed. He highly suspected that the Chinese man did not know about Heero crime, or had been told something else just to keep him from asking. Somehow, that fact made Duo feel a great deal worse.

'Look here.' Wufei jabbed an impatient finger at the LCD panel. 'YUY, Heero. Born: 10th April. Family: YUY, Catherine; mother; deceased, LOWE, Odin; father; deceased. Occupation: Database Administrator for Romefeller Corp. Rest all unimportant.'

'I've seen that.' Duo responded with a yawn. Wufei made no objections to his behavior, although his hands clenched tighter around the mouse.

'Now look at this.' He opened yet another file. 'YUY, Heero. Born: 10th April. Family: YUY, Catherine; mother; deceased, LOWE, Odin; father; deceased. Occupation: Database Administrator for Romefeller Corp.'

'Wow Fei.' Duo commented dryly. 'They are so different.'

'They are identical to each other.'

'As files tend to be.' Duo gave the other man a stare.

'Now look at this.' Wufei opened yet another file, and once again, Duo found himself staring at the same information. He made an irritated noise at that before telling Wufei that he was wasting his time. He was just about to speak about how files tended to be the same despite what database since they would have been illegitimate, and hence untrustworthy had they not been when Wufei jabbed his finger at the screen again.

'What?' Duo asked, staring at Wufei repetitively tapping his finger over Heero's father's name.

'Notice something different.'

'No.'

'Notice how it doesn't say Odin Lowe.' Wufei asked slowly. 'But says Odin Yuy instead?'

'Oh, what do you know.' Duo leaned forwards in his seat for a better look. 'You're right.'

'This was what prompted me to flick through the database.' Wufei explained. 'I had come across so many identical files of Yuy, all of which said the same, boring things. No police charges, no recreational activities, no relationships save for two dead parents. I might have lived a clean life, but it doesn't even compare with this guy.'

'Maybe he's a nerd who spends his life at home.' Duo suggested.

'Take a look at his school records.' Wufei opened another document, this time concerning Heero's academic achievements. The first school was Lakeside Elementary, a name Duo had never even heard of before. Under it were many school reports, all of which stated that Heero was a good student, and that he performed his tasks efficiently. His attendance rate was almost perfect, and his grades were all brilliant, with nothing lower than a "A". Scrolling down, Duo found Heero's high school records, which were in a similar state of perfection. However, one thing that he noticed was that Heero never took part in any sports, clubs or other extra-curricular activities. It was strange, considering his impeccable grades.

'Smart ass.' Was all Duo could say after going through the document. 'So what?'

'What is unusual is that he never got anything below an "A".' Wufei commented obviously. 'And he never took part in anything, despite his grades.'

'Perhaps he was a recluse.' Duo suggested with a shrug. 'It collaborates with him not having a girlfriend.'

Personally, Duo knew that he was only making excuses and prodding at Wufei's strong contention. He knew Wufei knew it too, which was probably the only reason why the other man had not screamed at him for being inobservant yet.

'I'm not sure what kind of schooling you had.' Wufei started with a small frown. 'But in normal schools, if a student turns out to be exceptionally gifted, as these reports seem to indicate, then they are instantly assigned to certain clubs and teams, no questions asked. How else do you think schools make "unbeatable" teams? The physics guru of the school won't necessarily join the Physics Olympiad, so the teachers force them to. From Yuy's records, he should have been involved in at least a few teams or competitions.'

'But he isn't.' Duo sighed. 'So, what's your diagnosis?'

'Forgery.' Wufei declared confidently. 'From what I can tell, none of these details are real. I also checked up on his parent's files, and although they are authentic, my check into the database told me that these details were all modified within the past forty-eight hours. Unfortunately, all of the original data was destroyed, so I have no clue where we are going to get some reliable information.'

'Aye…' To say that Duo had not been expecting it would have been a lie. The instant he saw the misprint of Heero's father's last name, he knew there would be some forgery going on. A person would normally take on the last name of their father, however, it seemed that in Heero's case, he had taken after his mother's last name. Needless to say, whoever had been changing the files had not been particularly careful there, and let habit take over. Either that, or there had been more than one person changing the files, and this one was more careless than the others. Duo had a suspicion that it was the latter, and he had a feeling he knew who it was. He turned to stare at Wufei, who was currently glaring daggers at he computer screen. Wufei definitely did not know the truth behind the case, and the military were trying their hardest to keep it that way. Unfortunately, it was going to make their job that much harder. Silently, Duo wondered whether it was going to throw Heero's own recovery from amnesia off kilter if all information regarding him had been altered, not that Heero should be able to access the database anyway, unless he learnt (or could still remember, depending on what he was before) how to access it. 'So, should we do some hacking?'

'I've tried.' Wufei admitted. 'Ever since I discovered this discrepancy last night, I've been trying to find an original copy somewhere. But, well, the system doesn't really keep a copy once a file has been overwritten.'

'Can't we somehow access the backup system?' Duo asked, leaning forward in his chair to minimize the windows Wufei had opened. 'I'm not sure about all of them, but I know that the main Human Resource Database (1) creates a backup copy twice a week, and it overwrites each time. If we are lucky, then we can find the file in the backup copy before the next backup procedure runs and that gets overwritten.'

'I was thinking about that.' Wufei sighed. 'Unfortunately, the security around the backup procedure is a bit too intense for my hacking abilities, and this is a violation of the law, so we can't leave any tracks. Conley did give the discrete order.'

'Damn straight.' Duo stretched. 'I know a bit about hacking, so perhaps I'll get started. In the meantime, you can do a little research on the fake identification front. You know, confirm that he really didn't attend those schools, and check up on the deceased parents and such.'

'That an order Maxwell?' Wufei asked with a hint of sarcasm.

'You know it!' Duo grinned, before batting a hand in Wufei's face, urging the other man to leave. The Chinese man snorted, but rose and left as ordered with a word that he would be back soon. Duo nodded unconcernedly, already opening command prompt and getting ready to work. There was a loud bang as the front door closed, followed by the sound of footsteps, slowing fading. Duo smiled and stretched himself, cracking his knuckles while he was at it. Silently, he wished Heero luck. A glance at the clock on the wall told him that it was two-thirty in the afternoon. Without really paying attention to what he was doing, Duo grabbed one of his many multi-purpose alarm clocks and rest the timer before placing it back down on the desk beside him, and returning back to the computer screen, all silliness completely dispelled from his face as he began working.

The red digits of the alarm clock displayed the digits 105:29:35.

A countdown for Heero Yuy.

* * *

**Endnotes:**

(1) I don't actually know what that database is called…but yea, bear with me please! And if anyone knows what it's really called, then tell me and I'll change it.

There was a little too much dialogue in this chapter, but well, couldn't help it. I tried to make Wufei as in character as I could, but he still turned out a little too…well, he wasn't as Wufei as I would have liked him to be. And he hasn't cried "injustice" yet, so yea…seriously lackatude. On another note, I am pretty much computer illiterate, and the only things I know about hacking and such I learnt from television, which is a pretty good source but tends to exaggerate things a little. So yea, you guys will have to bear with me once again.


	7. Chapter Seven: Peacecraft Mansion

**Progress: **7 of 14**  
General Notes: **Sigh, I believe I screwed up the drink, as in I described a martini different from the one that Heero ordered. Dang. Well, thanks Leia for pointing it out…Anyway, new chapter here. Really, really short, but yea. Glad you guys are enjoying the story, and as usual, please read and review. If you haven't guessed already, I crave the feedback!**  
Music: **When you say you love me – somebody; Division by Zero Error – Daisuke Asakura; Ningyo Hime – Tanaka Rie; Sincerely Ever Dream – Dream; My Immortal – Evanescence; Starry Sky – HAL; Emptiness – Natalie Imbrulia; Lacrimosa - Sweetbox

* * *

Chapter Seven: Peacecraft Mansion

Heero threw the quilt covering him in a hurry before sitting up, eyes swerving around, taking in every aspect of the room he was in. It was only moments later that he realized he was at Trowa's apartment, sleeping on the lounge room couch. His tense posture relaxed slightly, but refused to go completely lax. For a moment, he sat in complete silence, his gaze fixed on the view outside the window just across the room. It was late morning, possibly an hour or so before noon. A glance at the digital clock on the wall told him it was ten-twenty. Heero yawned slightly, disappointed with himself at having slept for so long. He had a task to accomplish, not to mention at least one person hot on his tail. There definitely was no time in the equation for him to be sleeping in.

He rolled of the couch in one fluid movement, making no noise at all during the process. Heero stretched quickly, bringing his sleeping muscles and tendons back to life. The apartment was mostly silent, until Heero heard the sound of newspapers rustling not so far away in the direction of Trowa's room. Without another thought, Heero walked across the lounge and down a small corridor before reaching Trowa's door. He nudged it open slowly, purposefully letting the door creak to announce his arrival. Inside, Trowa looked up from the newspaper he had been reading, and after realizing it was Heero, smiled.

'Morning.' He greeted as Heero walked in, taking a seat on the edge of Trowa's bed. The bedroom was small, barely large enough to contain the single bed, desk, narrow bookshelf and a small chair. Despite it, Trowa still managed to furnish it and keep everything in such order that the room appeared almost spacious.

'Morning.' Heero returned. 'My thanks for letting me stay the night.'

'Welcome.' Trowa replied, waving a hand as if it was nothing. 'I enjoy having some company, and you have good taste in music, so, how could I refuse.'

'Still, I am very grateful.' Both men had engaged in a rather enjoyable conversation the previous night about music and famous composers. Trowa was glad for some company and a person with similar tastes in classical music, and Heero had been surprised at his own knowledge on the subject. He had drunk a total of eight gin martinis, an amount that would have made any other man tip over, according to Trowa, and discovered that he liked the beverage, even if it did burn him to drink it. At some point, Trowa had asked Heero if he lived nearby, and the blue-eyed man had quickly made up a story about visiting a relative in hospital and staying at a hotel. Trowa had demanded that Heero spend the night at his apartment instead, insisting that it was no problem. The blue-eyed man had not wanted to intrude, but the small amount of cash in his pocket pressed him to take advantage of the situation. 'Anything interesting?'

'Hardly,' Trowa folded up the newspaper and offered it to Heero, who accepted it with a nod of thanks. 'Just the usual report of the conference between the Earth Sphere and the Colonies; some rich guy who died from a stroke, of whose three sons are now fighting for his inheritance, and something about the old Peacecraft estate.'

'Peacecraft?' Heero repeated the word as he flipped through the paper, searching for the page Trowa had been talking about. There was something highly familiar about the word, although he could not figure out what. He finally found the article on the fourth page, under a large, colored picture of a grand, white mansion on the top of a small hill. Under it, the words: "Peacecraft Mansion Under Debate" caught his attention.

'Yea, don't tell me you haven't heard of them.' Trowa looked surprised. 'The Peacecraft mansion was home to the foreign minister Relena Peacecraft, her husband and her son before they were ambushed, but this was years ago. Now, people don't know what to do with the mansion anymore, since there were no wills or relatives.'

'Really?' Heero found this information interesting, although he could not tell why. 'I'm sorry, I lived in a very small town in Japan, and we were a little ignorant about foreign affairs.'

'Ah.' Trowa looked thoughtful for a moment. 'Well, the details about the Peacecraft assassination weren't really clear. Just one night, they all apparently got ambushed and were killed. It was unusual, because the Peacecraft compound had surprisingly few guards. The guards were all killed, the Peacecraft son and husband were shot, and Relena fell into a coma which the doctors say she won't ever wake up from.'

'So she's in a hospital?'

'Yea, pretty much.' Trowa scratched his head. 'Her body's still alive, but her mind is dead, so they can't really do anything about it. She's also the foreign minister, or was, so they can't really cut off her life support, even if they know she won't wake up again. But you know what's strange?' Trowa gave Heero an imploring look. 'Even after Relena married, she kept her maiden name, and her son took after her when he was born.'

'That's not that unusual is it?' Heero asked distractedly, eyes fixed on the picture again.

'Well, children tend to take after their fathers.' Trowa looked distant for a moment. 'Unless they never had a father to begin with.'

'I suppose.' Heero muttered, eyes still fixed on the picture. The mansion looked very similar from the one he had seen in his memory, and he was willing to bet that there was a pavilion in the garden. Making up his mind, he told Trowa that he was going to go see his sick relative. The brunet nodded at that, and reminded Heero to return in the evening. The blue-eyed man nodded at that, unable to resist such an offer. With another nod, Heero turned and left.

* * *

It was twelve o'clock noon when Heero finally made his way to the Peacecraft mansion with a wad of documents slung over his shoulder in an ugly little sachet he bought at the two-dollar store. He had done some research along the way, and had found that the Peacecrafts had been murdered just over two years ago. One thing he had found strange was that the husband was never mentioned properly, and the articles he had collected had contained no true detail about what had happened to the husband. They were all written in such a way that implied Mr. Peacecraft (or whatever his name was) was dead, however, Heero had seen past the shroud the articles wove, and decided that the husband was probably never killed. Although that brought him to the question of why he was not killed, or why it was not reported that he was not killed. Perhaps he was dead, but Heero thought that the chances of that were highly unlikely. The articles had gone into some pretty graphic detail about Relena's death, and the son Xander's demise, but the husband had only been mentioned in passing. If that was not an indication about the weird mystery behind the husband, then Heero did not know what was.

The mansion was surrounded by a eight-foot high brick wall, separating only at the drive way to give room for a elegant black gate. There was a small security pad on the wall next to the gate, although it was so covered in dust, Heero guessed it had not been used in years. He brushed off the dust quickly before flipping open the lid to reveal a number pad, just like the one back at the laboratory. His fingers then moved on its own accord as it had done before, pressing a sequence of numbers with practiced ease. The pad emitted a high beeping sound, before the LCD panel at the top flickered and spelt the word "welcome" before the gate swung open. Heero entered quickly after a look around, and strode swiftly up the driveway, hearing the gates snap shut behind him.

He met a similar keypad when he reached the front door, which he opened as he had at the gate. The message that flickered across was different however, and said in bold letters: "Welcome, Mr. H. Yuy" before the door clicked open. Heero continued staring at the screen for a moment, almost entranced by the words. Mr. H. Yuy. Mr. Heero Yuy. He was Heero Yuy! But what did that mean? That he was a frequent visitor of the house, such that he had his own set of number keys? Or that he lived at the house? With a head full of questions, Heero tore his gaze from the panel and walked inside, closing the front door behind him.

He found himself in a grand entrance hall. The ceilings were high up, and beautiful chandeliers shone down, seeming to have turned on when the door opened. He had not walked more than a few paces before he reached a large atrium, the ceiling of which was far taller than the previous hall. It seemed as if the chamber opened to the heavens, with the large ceiling of glass above. Heero could see the moody sky outside, still a swirling mass of gray despite the rain last night. Pulling his gaze down, Heero took in the two staircases on either side of the atrium, leading to a second level hallway. Between the stairs was a large hallway that led further down the house, although Heero could not see what was at the end.

The voice of a little boy filled his mind, jolting him out of his revere. He looked around quickly, but saw nobody. Still, he could still hear the little boy's voice. It was muffled, and incoherent, but it was there, coming from the hallway before him. Without another thought, Heero dashed down the hall, watching the lights light up around him as he went. He stumbled into another large hall, this time furnished with a grand dining table in the center. The room was lined with windows, all looking outside into the garden. One glance at it showed Heero the one object he had wanted to see.

The white pavilion.

Moving awkwardly, Heero strode to a door on the other side, opening it wide to step outside. A white pavilion stood not so far away, at the edge of a grand lake, currently a stony pewter color. He lumbered forwards, his legs suddenly feeling like lead. Heero could not understand why, for although the sight of the pavilion set his mind into recalling the memory, he could feel nothing else. But he knew there was something here, something valuable. He stumbled into the pavilion, taking notice of the glass chairs and the stone table. There were no chess pieces, no chess board, and no broken glasses on the floor. But there was no denying that this was the pavilion from his memory.

The boy's voice filled his mind again, snagging onto Heero's attention and refusing to let go. Somehow, he knew that there was no little boy around, simply his mind regurgitating the information it once knew. There was a jumble of voices, mostly the little boy's. He was saying something, but Heero could not understand the words. Then there was a small chuckle, a feminine chuckle, mingled with the sound of the little boy laughing, before Heero found himself staring into a pair of bright, blue eyes.

'What do you think papa?'

There was the sound of glass smashing, mingled with a loud thump as a man fell to his knees. Heero Yuy was unconscious before he hit the ground.

* * *

**Endnotes:**

Really, really short chapter, but what can I say, my muse just left the building, and I'm not even going to try to write without it. We learnt some interesting things about Heero in this chapter, and I think the 1x2 fans are probably going to choke me to death for the implications in this chapter. Well…sorry, but it had to happen for the story to work. Well, Relena is dead…sort of, so no worries on that front! Ya, and as usual, please review!

Assassin


	8. Chapter Eight: Answers

**Progress: **8 of a proposed two figure sum**  
General Notes: **I hope you guys aren't too angry with me about what transpired in the previous chapter. It appeared I've traumatized a few people…for that, I am sorry. But as previously stated, it had to happen for the story to work. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this chapter. And as usual, read and review!  
Some swearing towards the end of the chapter, namely the use of the ruder synonym to crap and less scientific than faeces.**  
Music: **To Zanarkand – FFX OST; Suteki da Ne – FFX OST; Pure - Hayley Westenra

* * *

**Covetousness**

Chapter Eight: Answers

Wufei sighed as he took his place on the front steps of Seaside Elementary. It was a small school on the outskirts of town, consisting of only five hundred students altogether. Like all small schools, the architecture for the place was simple, and most of the buildings were moveable houses, giving Wufei the impression that the school had not been at any one place for long. From his vantage point, Wufei could see a crowd of small children engaging in a game of basketball. For a moment, all he could do was stand and wonder just what he had been doing when he was their age. Whatever it was, he was sure it had nothing to do with basketball.

The Chinese man approached the front desk slowly, taking in the surroundings as he entered the lobby. The indoor design was about as simple as the outdoors, with white walls, blue carpet and down-lights. The front desk was not much more complicated, being a simple gray, secretary desk, behind which a young woman sat with a headset attached to her ear. When Wufei reached the desk, she held up a hand, gesturing for him to wait a moment while she finished her call. Wufei nodded, taking the time to analyze the rest of the school. He was not sure when this place was built, but he was quite sure it had not been around over a decade ago when Yuy was supposed to have been in primary school.

'Can I help you?' His gaze fell on the secretary once again as she jabbed a number on the phone before her.

'Yes. My family recently moved into the area, and I was wondering if I could get some information about this school.'

'Sure.' She reached over to fetch some brochures under the desk, finally straightening up and handing Wufei two small booklets. 'Well, this school is about the same as every other elementary school, except we are mobile. In that, I mean that we go to areas where there are no elementary schools, and remain there until a permanent school is erected. We teach students from grade one to six here, and our curriculum is just the same as you would expect anywhere else. The rest of our information can be gathered from those pamphlets I gave you, and if you have any further questions, you can always call or come here in person. Enrollment can be at any time, except for the last two weeks of term, in which case we would advise you to enroll your child as soon as the new term begins.'

'I understand.' Wufei nodded once. 'Thanks for your time.'

'Welcome.' The secretary smiled, before bending down over her computer and continuing her work once more.

Wufei walked slowly out of the school, eyes fixed on the booklet in his hands. The school was apparently established around half a century ago, which seemed unusual considering the newness of the architecture and furniture. However, the school was always moving, so Wufei decided that most of the buildings were not as they were when the school first started. A quick flick through talented former students section yielded no mention of Heero Yuy, although it definitely mentioned several other students whose accomplishments were no where close to Yuy's supposed performance.

The Chinese man sighed as he entered his car, placing the booklets down on the passenger seat. That was one fake school down, one more to go, as well as two supposed parents. He hoped Maxwell was working hard, because wandering around places where Yuy had obviously never been to was a real pain in the ass.

* * *

Duo rubbed his eyes before going back to work, feeling as if his brain was about to meltdown. He had been unfortunate in finally getting through the security gateway just as the backup was being overwritten. Thus owing to why he had been cursing nonstop for half an hour at his terrible luck, for he could have prevented it all from happening if he had been just a minute faster. Still, it was not the end of the world, because even overwritten data could be forced to revert back to their original form. The only problem with that was that it was going to take a lot longer than he had previously though, and knowing his quick-tempered partner, Wufei was not going to like it. 

Not that Duo liked it either.

The braided man sighed as he took a sip of water. He may have a lot of skills with hacking, but he was by no means the best, which was definitely not the best thing considering his situation. Duo sighed again as he turned to stare back at the screen, seeing the multiple windows opened around the screen. He cracked his knuckles and sighed once again, feeling that it was going to develop into a terrible habit by the end of the week. Slowly, his hands positioned themselves over the keyboard and began typing once more. He had managed to salvage some of the file before it was completely overwritten, although it did very little to help his present problem. The file, although not completely overwritten, had contained very similar data to the documents he already had. Perhaps it was because only the vital statistics at the top had been salvaged, but from what he could see, the name Heero Yuy, and the date of birth were the same. The rest of the document had been chopped off due to overwrite, and he had not tried to copy that across.

Duo proceeded to further hacking into the backup system's directory, hoping desperately that he could still do what he wanted to do without the physical drive being there. The good thing (or bad thing) about hard disks was that they were just that in physical nature: disks incorporated into boxes which held information much the same way as all disks did, which was through grooves made onto the disk. Unless a software was used to purposefully purge the information after each format or rewrite, the information could still be salvaged, albeit without the quality of the original file. Unfortunately, the few times Duo had done this was through using a specific software with the disk directly connected to his computer, which was a luxury he did not have this time. On a positive note, wireless access allowed him to do this (in theory) without needing to move from his computer. Silently, he hoped once again that he could do just that.

He opened up the software he was going to use, making sure to check that he had not yet been discovered. A new window opened up, joining the various others he already had open. Quickly, he set the directory as the backup system he was connected to, and typed in several lines of code. The "successful" message that flashed across his screen was a positive thing, and Duo continued with his work, hoping that nothing would screw up now. A dialogue appeared, showing the progress of the scanning process, with the expected time as twenty minutes. As long as he made it through this next twenty minutes, then he would have the original file no sweat.

Duo pushed himself away from the computer, eyes still locked firmly on the screen before him. The digits continued its countdown steadily, and the various other windows indicated that there were no problems in those fronts either. Dully, he confirmed the fact that he was hungry, but had no food left considering how Wufei had emptied his entire fridge earlier after running into three overdue items. Personally, Duo could not understand why the Chinese man had been so neurotic about the whole thing, since he was quite sure that there were still things within that fridge that had not yet gone off. Now, Duo had to suffer from the other man's pedanticsm in having a terrible hunger but unable to satisfy it, considering that he was not allowed to leave the room until his job was finished.

His mobile phone rang loudly, jolting Duo out of his revere. He scowled slightly as he registered the caller to be the very same person who was responsible for his lack of nutrients, and made sure to remind himself into complaining to Wufei about it.

'I'm hungry.' He declared immediately, not bothering with formalities.

'That's really something I wanted to know.' Came Wufei's dry response. 'Get yourself something to eat if you're really hungry.'

'Can't, since you cleared out my fridge, and I'm waiting for the original Yuy files to copy itself over to my comp.'

'How terrible.' Wufei sighed. Duo smiled, knowing that he was not the only one who was developing a bad habit. 'I'll bring you back some food on my way back.'

'Thanks Wuffers.' Duo smirked. 'So, you finished with the fake-data business?'

'Somewhat.' Wufei made an irritable sound. 'I've just got his parents left to check, then I'll be done for the day. Should take another hour or so.'

'I'll be waiting.' Duo made a face as he hung up, wishing that Wufei was looking at the screen. But the Chinese man sounded like he was in a car, which meant that that was highly unlikely. Besides, he never turned on the video either, so the camera would not have registered anything even if Wufei was looking. It was a childish paranoia of Duo's and made worse from his life as an assassin: one just did not show their face to people they did not know. He had settled to using the video of his home phone whenever he was speaking to Quatre, but as far as he was concerned, the camera feature of his mobile phone did not even exist. There was just something impersonal about mobile phones, another thought gained from his life as an assassin.

A glance at the screen told Duo that the file was still in the transferring process. He rubbed his eyes quickly, feeling a yawn ripple through his lungs. Reaching across his desk, he grabbed a roll of newspaper and unfurled it. As far as he could tell, there was nothing interesting or new on the news front, and a quick scan yielded no mention of Heero or breach in government security. Once again, Duo wondered what the other man was doing, and whether he was staying out of trouble. Perhaps he had recovered some shred of his memory now, or so duo hoped. A glance over at the clock sitting on the edge of the desk reminded him once again of the little time Heero had left. Silently, Duo wondered if he had done the right thing in allowing the man to go. No matter which way he looked at it, he had given up the chance of shooting a shell to kill a man instead.

A beeping from the computer caught his attention, forcing Duo out of his thoughts. He glanced over tiredly, feeling a sense of impending doom. A flashing window on the edge of the screen instantly became the center of his attention as Duo noted with a wry look that the security system had finally detected him. A glance at the window in the center told him that he still had ten minutes to go. Stretching once more, Duo maximized a window in the lower right corner of his screen and set to eliminating his presence as best as he could without severing his connection to the system. He was quite sure that even though he had been detected, it was most likely one of the many diversions he had set up. Still, it did not hurt to be sure, and if it was one of the false connections, he could just severe it and leave the security system with the knowledge that it had done its job.

As expected, Duo found that the system had indeed picked up on one of his fake intrusions. He played with it for a moment, giving the pretence of a struggle before disconnecting. The beeping stopped, and the system fell into equilibrium once more. Duo smiled and rubbed his eyes once again, feeling that that action was definitely not worth his effort.

* * *

Wufei paused as he stood before a headstone at the local cemetery, his mouth set in a firm line. Before him, Odin Lowe's grave stared back at him, dating the death to twenty years ago. Wufei had had little luck searching for Yuy's mother, but Odin Lowe had been easy to find. After a great deal of searching and hacking on Maxwell's part, they discovered Lowe to be a government assassin, much like themselves before dying at the age of thirty-nine after twenty years of service. The file had not specified any wives or lovers, despite stating in plain text that he had a son, the name of which was unspecified. Wufei wondered whether the son had been Yuy, although the last name was strange, considering that no wives had been evident on any of Lowe's documents. 

Wufei shrugged as he continued strolling through the cemetery, hoping to find something which would help him with his investigation. But the tombstones told him nothing, and Wufei found himself straying back to his car, with Maxwell's place as the destination. On the way there, he made sure to stop by at a takeout store, and left with two bags of food in hand.

* * *

Duo smirked as he logged off the Human Resource database, feeling happy with his conquest. He had successfully downloaded the original Yuy file, and unscrambled it to form a classic looking ID page. His eyebrows furrowed as he glanced down the page, taking in the various details. As expected, the name and birthdates were the same. The family yielded him a very surprising find, and he found himself standing up suddenly, knocking his chair over in the process. Just then, the front door opened and Wufei soon entered his room with two bags of food in his hands. They stared at each other for a moment, Wufei's face displaying his obvious shock before he finally recovered. 

'What's wrong Maxwell?' He asked calmly, setting the plastic bags on the floor next to Duo's desk.

'I've just stumbled across some serious gold.' Duo murmured, pointing at the computer screen. Wufei walked over slowly, a confused expression on his face. This soon morphed into surprise, and when he turned his gaze on Duo once more, his eyes were wide.

'This…'

'Yea, I know.' Duo said weakly. 'Who would have guessed huh?'

'But…' Wufei looked completely speechless. 'Shit!'

'Eloquent, Chang.' Duo sighed, pulling his chair up and sinking back into it, his eyes fixed on the computer screen once more. 'Real eloquent.'

Under the family section of Heero Yuy's profile were the words: Wife: PEACECRAFT, Relena; deceased and son: PEACECRAFT, Xander; deceased.

* * *

**Endnotes:**

And the plot thickens! At least, sort of… Well, I feel like I've just sealed my fate with the fangirl front, confirming that Heero was married to Relena. Well, as I said before, she is dead. And the main thing to understand is that they _were_ married, not anymore. Well, you can't be married to a dead woman can you? In any case, yea… another short chapter, which sucks, but I have to cut it off there. I guess we can call it a cliffhanger, sort of. There was another sentence I wanted to fit in, but could. So sorry about that, but you guys will see it next chapter. And if my writing appears a bit screwed at certain points in this chapter, it's because I'm sick and I had a fever when I was writing this (am I dedicated or not?). Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it. Oh, and once again, I have to remind you all that I don't know anything about computers where hacking and databases are concerned, so sorry if it sounds strange or unbelievable. I suppose this is what you would call a blind man writing about colors, hey?


	9. Chapter Nine: Meeting II

**Progress: **9 of 14**  
General Notes: **It's been a while, I know…I'm lazy, what can I say. It's the holidays, the time of the year where I spend my entire life on the couch and only move when the need arises (which is very infrequently). Anywho, glad you people are enjoying this story! If you have the time, please give some of my other stories a go as well :D, and as always, please read, enjoy and review!**  
Music: **Battle Theme – FFX; Calm Lands – FFX; Chocobo Theme – FFX; Tidus' Theme – FFX (guess what game I was playing while writing this…); Points of Authority – Linkin Park; the Rock Show – Blink 182; Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy – somebody famous; Allegro – Bond; Salva Nos II – Noir OST II; Soredemo – Full Moon wo Sagashite OST; Eternal Snow – Changin' my life; Myself – Meroko version – Full Moon wo Sagashite OST; Now we are Free – Gladiator OST

* * *

**Covetousness**

Chapter Nine: Meeting II

Heero regained consciousness, although it was not the sort of slip back to reality he would have enjoyed. For a moment, all he felt was a great sense of numbness and confusion. His eyes opened, and he saw a confusing image of white stone, shattered glass and a great deal of red substance. It was at that moment that he realized he was at the Peacecraft Estate, and that he was lying on the floor of the stone pavilion. A jolt of pain ran through his body, jolting him into sitting up quickly. This turned out to be a bad choice, because the next moment, he was engulfed by a terrible pain which shot from his left leg. It was enough to make him scream, but he did not. Instead, he pulled his leg closer to himself and inspected it carefully. There were large chunks of glass sticking out of it, and a weak flow of blood. Luckily, the wound seemed to have mostly clotted, which was probably the reason why he had not died from blood loss, although he had no idea how long he had been unconscious.

Carefully, he removed the glass pieces as best as he could, but still managed to split the clot and cause a fresh flow of blood to spill. Mouth fixed in a firm line, Heero ripped apart the section of his pants that was already ripped, and tied it tightly around his leg. He would need to visit a first-aid kit soon, that or a doctor. However, the status as a fugitive eliminated the doctor option. Despite that, Heero decided that he should probably visit a hospital anyway, if not for his wounded leg but for the comatose Relena Peacecraft.

Heero scrambled up quickly, wondering for a moment whether he should clean the mess he had created. In his sudden fall out of consciousness, he had taken down one of the class chairs with his leg, smashing the chair and impaling his leg with numerous shards of broken glass. A quick glance at the sky told him that he should probably hurry, for darkness was fast approaching, suggesting that he had been out for at least a good five hours. Squaring his shoulders, Heero limped steadily away, making sure to stay in the shadows. He knew that he was definitely quite a sight in his present state, with ripped up jeans and blood dripping down his legs, which was all the more reason to keep out of sight.

Heero slipped out of the front gate just as he had come in, making sure to leave his hiding spot behind the wall only when he had ensured that there was nobody near by. Heero limped for a good part, thinking it unsafe to get on a cab until he moved ever so slightly further. When he had made it about three blocks down the road, he finally decided it time to hail a taxi. The car came almost immediately, and he entered with the Central Hospital as his destination. He was quite sure that the newspaper he was reading earlier had mentioned something about Relena being held at that particular hospital. The taxi driver nodded and started driving, speaking only once throughout the entire trip to ask Heero where he had cut himself so badly. The blue-eyed man did not answer, and the driver did not ask again.

They reached the hospital in twenty minutes, which was good considering the heavy gridlock the streets were set in. Heero noted dully that rush hour was definitely a good time to set a police chase as long as one had control of the lights, and did a double take a second later when he realized what he was thinking about. He paid the taxi driver the fare, taking a moment to moan quietly in his head that he was pretty much out of cash. With a sigh, he proceeded to the emergency ward, checking in the wound on his leg as an accident from tripping over the coffee table and smashing the glass. He used the name Odin Lowe, although he could not understand why save that it sounded familiar. The nurse nodded, and told him to rest in the waiting room for the meantime. Heero nodded his thanks before turning around and entering the waiting room, making sure to hide in the corner which granted him maximum visibility of the room, exits and in the only surveillance camera's blind spot: directly beneath it.

He did not have to wait long, for his name was called in almost immediately. He entered quickly, limping behind the doctor as best as he could while still dodging his face out of view of the various cameras. The doctor took him into a small room, whereby he went about taking apart Heero's makeshift bandage, examining the wound, washing it, removing the glass pieces that Heero could not remove himself and bandaging it. The whole process took a surprisingly short amount of time, and Heero soon found himself leaving with a document to pay at the front desk. He would not be paying anything for a while, he noted wryly as he left, still limping as he dodged around the cameras in search of Relena Peacecraft.

He made his way through the hospital, going only by feeling. He finally stopped when he came across a small reception on the second floor. Eyes fixed on the woman sitting behind the desk, Heero pressed himself tight against a nearby wall, carefully out of sight of all the nearby cameras. He waited for a while, hoping that he would not have to create his own diversion. Thankfully, the woman rose not much later, apparently needing to use the bathroom. Heero allowed himself a small smile for the luck before slinking across the corridor, carefully avoiding the various busy patients and nurses nearby to place himself behind the desk. He then let his fingers do the work, checking up the patients' records for a Peacecraft, Relena. His search returned almost immediately, with her room on the sixth floor in room 6239. That done, Heero quickly closed his prompt and dashed off, getting into the elevator before the door closed. The nurse that was currently playing as the only other elevator passenger gave him a look, but Heero ignored her as he jabbed the number six. The nurse got off on the fifth level, leaving Heero a moment of peace before he slipped out of the elevator on the next floor.

The sixth floor was apparently a floor completely dedicated to inpatients, which was unusual, considering that the inpatient's building was across the courtyard in the south wing. Nonetheless, the blue-eyed man strode quickly across the floor, searching for room number 6239. He expected high security around the area, but was disappointed with the empty chair and a metallic keypad on the wall. Taking a quick glance up and down the hall, Heero made his way towards the door, right hand ghosting over the keypad once before remembering its purpose and punching in a series of numbers. There was a positive beep from the keypad, a flash of green and the words "authorized entry" flashed across the small LCD screen, followed by the sound of locks being released. Heero pulled down on the handle and slipped in, closing the door softly behind him.

The room was of a moderate size, and decorated all in white. There was a single white bed in the center, surrounded by a empty bedside table, and stacks of machinery. Various IV drips hung off metal stands, a heart monitor stood hear the bedside table with a cord attached to Relena's finger, a respirator stood on the other side of the bed where the other bedside table should have been, attached to Relena through a thick tube and mask which covered half her face, and various other devices stood around, providing the comatose woman with the only things that kept her body functioning.

Heero expected himself to feel surprise, or anger, or anything really. Instead, all he saw was a woman in deep coma, her cheeks pale and her chest only heaving because of the mask attached to her face. This woman was not alive, and Heero almost felt sad seeing the display: a pathetic attempt at keeping a person alive after they had long since died. The Peacecraft Assassination had been years ago, so this woman had been kept alive for years? Heero moved forward slowly, taking hold of one of her hands lukewarm hands. A vision flashed across his mind: him, holding this very hand, pressing the back to his lips in a formal greeting. Relena smiled back at him, blue eyes showing surprise, and she said something, her voice cheerful. And then it was gone, and Heero found himself standing next to a long-since dead woman with her hand clutched firmly in his.

That was when the first wave of emotion hit him, a wave of such sadness and self-disgust that he almost felt nauseous. Somewhere within him, something screamed that it was his fault Relena now lay on that pale bed with her mind gone and her body still chained to the human plane. He did not know why it was his fault, save that it simply was. He did something which caused her death, her and the boy Xander. He should be dead, not them. They had done nothing wrong, save knowing him and…and possibly loving him? The word love was foreign to his mind, a word he could not comprehend and threw the careful algorithm of his thinking askew. But even so, Relena had given it to him, her and Xander. He could remember nothing else, but that was enough. He had been loved, and they were punished for it.

Heero did not cry. He did not need his memories to know that. But at that moment, as he stood at Relena's bedside, he felt the closest thing to crying as he ever had.

* * *

'Damn this guy marries well.' Duo found himself saying as he leaned back into his chair. Wufei nodded next to him, handing over one of the plastic bags of food while he was at it. 'Relena fucking Peacecraft eh? Well I'll be damned!' 

'Don't swear Maxwell.' Wufei reprimanded, reaching into his plastic bag to fish out a paper box of food.

'You weren't so damn bent on not swearing a moment ago, Mr. Eloquent.' Duo smirked as he pulled out his own share of late lunch, early dinner. 'But wow!'

'Yes Maxwell.' Wufei grumbled dully, opening his box and sampling a bit of the contents with the disposable chopsticks they came with. 'Takeout will never match the real thing.'

'Wuffers.' Duo gave him a dry look. 'If takeout did match the real thing, then it would cost four times as much and take half an hour to cook. Seriously! Even I know that.'

'And we all know how rare it is for you to know something.' Wufei shot back. 'So, apart from Yuy's fantastically famous wife, you find anything else?'

'Not much really.' Duo sighed. 'The schooling under here is the same as it was on the file you swiped, with the only difference being that he went to university and got himself a masters in I.T. and law…talk about eclectic.'

'It's not really that bad.' Wufei took another few mouthfuls of his food, chewed and swallowed before speaking again. 'My fiancé has a masters in aerospace science and law, and now she works as a neurosurgeon.'

'She does have a medical degree as well right?' Duo asked hesitantly. 'Because it definitely doesn't make me feel any better knowing that there are doctors out there perform brain surgery without a license.'

'Obviously she has a license.' Wufei gave Duo a look which indicated clearly that he did not like Duo accusing his future wife of medical work without a license. 'It's just that it was not her initial choice.'

'What did she want to be?' Duo asked dully, scrolling down the page. 'A ATC (1)?'

'Actually, I think she wanted to mechanic.' Wufei paused for a moment, his gaze locked on Duo. 'She wanted to fix cars.'

Duo was silent for a moment, staring at Wufei with a sense of incredulity. The other man continued his meal, completely unperturbed. When the braided-man finally recovered his senses, he was still staring at Wufei.

'She wants to mess around with cars, so she studies aerospace and law?' Duo's face was almost comical. 'What did she want to do? Put jet engines in cars and then prove with the law book she so aptly memorized that it is perfectly legal?'

'I don't know.' Wufei sighed. 'Her goal as a child was actually to become a famous writer. Our entire study room is dedicated to her books, most of which she wrote as a recreational thing. She is pretty damn famous though. We did some calculations a while ago and figured that we could both pretty much retire when we turn thirty and have enough cash in our combined account to go for a tour around the world and finally settle down in a mansion in Venice, and support two children, both of whom will own Ferraris as their first cars.'

'Damn.' Duo gave Wufei an evil glare. 'Wish I was your kids.'

'Right.' Wufei finished off his meal with a smirk. 'So, can we go off the topic of my fiancé and me and back onto Heero Yuy?'

'Huh? Oh, right.' Duo swallowed the rest of his food in a hurry. 'Well, I decided that Heero would probably figure out his wife is Peacecraft at some point, and hence go for a stroll at home. So I'll just hook up their home security to my computer, as well as find out which room belongs to Peacecraft at the hospital and link the security of that place here as well.'

'You think that will work?' Wufei asked dubiously. Duo gave him a dry look.

'You keep your eyes on your billionaire future wife and I'll keep my eyes on the computers okay?' Duo dumped his finished dinner on the desk, and leaned forward to begin work once again. Wufei made a impatient noise before leaning across and grabbing Duo's rubbish, shoving it quickly back into the plastic bag and discarding it all in the trashcan under the desk. Duo smirked as he continued his work, locating the Peacecraft Estate security system easily and breaking his way through it. He soon had full access of the system and was just about to congratulate himself when he noticed something unusual written by the status of the gate.

'Hey Wuffers?'

'Wufei.' Wufei responded automatically, eyes trained on some documents in his hands. 'What?'

'The Peacecraft Estate is pretty much off limits right?'

'Yes. Why?'

'Because I have the front gate clocked at two openings during the past twenty four hours, and the front door opened once with the code for a Mr. H. Yuy.'

'What?' Duo watched Wufei discard his documents immediately, his eyes trained on the screen. 'You mean he's already been there?'

'So it seems Fei.' Duo sighed. 'Damn, there is just something about me and being slow today.'

'How about Peacecraft's room at the hospital?'

'Hang on, give me a second.' Duo minimized the first window to open another one, this time hooking onto Relena Peacecraft's room at the Central Hospital. Once there, he opened up the room's daily schedule as well as the access times. 'No, all seems normal here.'

'So, he hasn't been there yet.' Wufei was already on his feet. 'Move your ass Maxwell, we have a fugitive to catch.'

* * *

Wufei Chang had a nice car, Duo decided as he watched the Chinese driver plow recklessly through the roads, he just was not that nice of a driver. Wufei owned a black BMW Kompressor, with a sleek coat and not one dent on the outside and classy leather interior. Unfortunately, one would not get that impression from the man's driving, which was not even close to road-safe standards. But he was a cop, which gave him a excuse, sort of. Not that Duo minded. He loved going fast, and only never did in recent times because his present job did not offer the added benefits of running twenty miles an hour above standard speed and getting away with it. Despite that, Duo was still stunned to find himself walking into the hospital ten minutes later (a record for rush hour, although probably because Wufei was driving on the pedestrian street for the most part) without a coffee table leg shoved into his chest. They definitely plowed through enough outdoor café customers for the chances of such a feet to increase dramatically in probability from something along the lines of one in three thousand road trips to one in three. 

They located the elevator immediately, hopping on and jabbing the number six. A little girl with her mother shared the elevator with them, and she contended herself with playing with the end of Duo's braid. Duo hated people touching his hair, but the sight of the little girl fawning over his was enough to clear away any aggression he might have felt. The mother smiled gladly, murmuring a thanks to Duo when they got off on the third floor. The braided-man found himself waving back to them as they left, only dropping his hand when the door finally closed.

They got off on the sixth level with their aim set on room 6239. When they got there, the found themselves faced with an empty chair and a keypad on the side of the door. Duo gave Wufei the code quickly while he found his PDA and connected it to the metallic object, feeling surprise when he discovered that the door had opened during the last ten minutes while they were on the road. He told Wufei as much, and the Asian man nodded, finally pushing open the door and withdrawing his gun. Duo found his own gun quickly, feeling himself sink almost disgustingly easily into his old combat-wary position. With that settled, they both entered.

The room was empty, save for Relena Peacecraft, who lay like the almost dead woman she was in bed, breathing heavily into the respirator (or rather the respirator forcing her to breath as heavily as she could). Wufei entered first, checking under the bed and behind the various instruments that surrounded the former foreign minister. Duo felt his hackles rise as he entered, knowing that Heero Yuy was still in here. A quick check up indicated that there was no ventilation shaft, and the windows were sealed, the lack of handles implying that it was not made to be opened. With a sense of trepidation, he turned around, sensing before he even turned that Heero was standing there. He felt a rough push against his chest, knocking him backwards and drawing Wufei's attention before the door was wrenched open and Heero dashed off down the corridor.

Duo sprang up immediately, following the man down the corridor with his gun drawn. Heero was off to a good start in running, but Duo could see from the mass of white bandages around his left leg that he was injured. How he got injured was beyond Duo, but the other man was definitely hurt and it was retarding his getaway badly. Duo raised his gun and fired, sending the bullet into the man's right arm. Heero's movements slowed for a moment before resuming their original pace, almost as if the shot had never gone through. He slipped quickly into the emergency stairwell, just as Duo sent another two shots flying, both missing and hitting the opposite wall. He sped up himself, dashing into the stairwell and springing down the stairs, jumping several stairs at once to capture his quarry. Heero was but two flights ahead of him, a sum he was quickly catching up on. When the blue-eyed man was only a flight away, Duo fired yet again, his bullets finding home this time in Heero's right leg. He stumbled at this, tripping over the stairs and rolling down an entire flight before landing awkwardly on the bottom. Duo dashed the last two flights, finally stopping before Heero, gun pointing lethally at the other man's chest.

Heero sat up slowly, barely letting out a groan of pain. His right arm and leg were both bleeding, and the fall seemed to have ripped open the wound on the left leg, because the white bandage was becoming increasingly soaked in red. Duo approached slowly, gun trained on Heero's chest even as the man moved. When the Japanese man looked up, Duo was surprised to see the look of acceptance there. Heero knew he was going to die, and faced it boldly, his Prussian-blue eyes piercing Duo's and demanding that he pull the trigger. So this was the moment of truth, Duo decided. Heero Yuy does not get the end of his countdown, and would die here on the emergency fire-escape of the Central Hospital by his hands. His right hand tightened around the gun, Heero's chest firmly in the line of fire.

He could not pull the trigger.

Heero Yuy stared at him expectantly, almost irritably, as if daring Duo to make him sit there waiting for a death which would not come. Duo's mind shouted for him to pull the trigger, but his fingers would not move, almost as if they were frozen to the gun. So the two of them remained in that position: Heero crouched awkwardly against a wall, clutching his wounded arm, legs bleeding and eyes fixed on Duo and his gun; while Duo stood barely four feet away, gun poise and ready to be fired. Finally sensing that Duo was not going to shoot, Heero forced himself to stand up shakily, his legs giving way under him in his first two attempts, until Duo finally ran over and helped him upright, supporting Heero's weight with his body. Heero's muscles tensed, and Duo knew that had Heero been in better condition, the braided man would have just had his neck broken.

'Why are you doing this?' Heero's voice was little more than a whisper. 'Did you not say you would kill me the next time you saw me?'

'Yea.' Duo sighed, 'I guess I did.'

'So, where is that final shot?' Heero asked, his voice humorless. Still, Duo laughed lightly, helping the man down another flight of stairs.

'I don't know.'

They were silent for a moment, save for both of their panting as they made their way down to the ground floor. When they finally stopped at the door, Heero spoke up once more.

'Your name is Duo Maxwell right?' He asked, and continued after seeing Duo nod. 'I think you've been playing two roles at once. But in the end, whose side are you really on?'

'My side.' Duo answered truthfully.

'And your side benefits with my being alive?' Heero asked with a quirked eyebrow.

'I just can't bear with taking a life anymore.' Duo looked sad. 'That should not be my choice.'

'Life is cheap, especially mine.' Heero growled. 'Make up your mind Maxwell, or you won't gain anything from this save a great deal of pain.'

'I didn't sign up to this to gain anything.' Duo spat back angrily. 'I didn't want to sign up to it at all!'

'Life isn't fair, but that's what makes it enjoyable, right?' Heero smirked wryly. Duo nodded, feeling his gaze slip away from Heero's face, unable to look at those blue eyes any longer. Several floors above, he heard the sound of Wufei's shouting, coupled with hasty footsteps. Reluctantly, he let his eyes lock with Heero's once again. 'Your partner is coming.'

'Thank you Mr. Obvious.' Duo muttered back. 'Well, start running, Heero Yuy.'

'Should I expect death the next time I see you?' Heero asked calmly, holding Duo's gaze with his own. The violet-eyed man found himself unable to look away, even though he wanted to so badly.

'Yes.' He answered firmly. They were both silent for a moment, the only extra sound being Wufei's rapid dash down the stairs. Then, Heero leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on Duo's lips, catching the braided man completely off guard. Still smirking, he turned and pushed open the door, slipping out into the back alley of the hospital. Regaining his senses in the last minute, Duo raised his gun and fired another two shots, both of which were so completely off target that the Japanese man did not even bother to increase the speed of his hobbling. Duo took another shot, just as Heero cleared round the corner and slipped into the car park beside the hospital. The gunshot echoed around the courtyard, amplified several times louder. Wufei finally slipped down the last flight of stairs, his gun gripped tightly in his hand.

'What happened?' He asked, staring out at the empty alleyway outside.

'He escaped.' Duo answered obviously, eyes still fixed on the corner where he had last seen Heero.

'How?' Wufei asked, gaze swerving between Duo and the alleyway. 'Wasn't he injured?'

'Yea.'

'And he still escaped?'

'Yea.'

'_How?_'

'The guy is full of surprises.' Duo murmured, unconsciously replacing the safety on his gun and tucking it back into its hoister. Wufei continued staring at him incredulously, even as he exited the hospital and began making his way towards the Chinese man's car. Wufei soon followed, but he was ranting under his breath about weird Americans whose never-ending energy supplies always died in the last minute, strange Japanese fugitives who could talk their way out of execution and the injustice of it all. Duo was hardly paying any attention to Wufei's speech, although he would have been glad had he been listening, for it was obvious that even though they had only just started working together, Wufei enjoyed their teamwork on a certain level and would not be getting Duo in trouble by writing anything compromising on a report, even if it meant bending a few rules surrounding the word "truth".

Even as he sank into bed that night, eyes still wide open and staring at the ceiling in the darkness, with but the still switched on computer adding to light and background noise, all he could think about was Heero's words and that confusing kiss.

* * *

**Endnotes:**

(1) ATC is the abbreviation for Air Traffic Control, a job which lands anyone doing it a extremely high probability of nervous breakdown, divorce, violence, depression and suicide. But they are paid damn well (think of Pushing Tin if I'm still not ringing any bells).

That was…random. I suppose I deserve that, since I'm writing at 2 AM in the morning, in my bed, with a massive coat pulled over me so that I don't make my cold worse (yes, I've still got the damn cold). Okay…some weirdness in this chapter… I got a bit carried away with Wufei's fiancé and her diverse and somewhat random nature. The aerospace-law combined degree is something my Chirish friend wants to get into, the automotive engineering is something my Greek friend wants to get into, and the surgeon part is what Overlord's father does (I'm not sure he does neurosurgery though). The car with a jet engine which can surpass all land-speed records and probably turn a person into a singularity (the mysteries surrounding the last dude who broke the land-speed record and vanished off the face of the earth) is something Chirish and I have discussed many times during our physics classes when we should have been focusing on Larry speeding down a frictionless ice surface on his skateboard made snowboard. And yea, writing as a hobby is something that half the people I know does, especially myself during exam period (bad habit, I know). But, long chapter! Well, for me with this story anyway. I put a bit too much stuff in this chapter, and didn't get to fill in the bit I wanted to about "Duo's last line" as mentioned previously in the previous endnote thing. Ah well, I'll put it in next time I suppose.

Um…yea, well, at least I finally put in a bit of that 1x2 goodness, albeit it was random and short and…yea…never mind.

Assassin


	10. Chapter Ten: Computers

**Progress: **10 of 14**  
General Notes: **Back with another chapter. I'm glad you guys are enjoying it so far, and thank you all those who reviewed. Really makes me feel loved. On a side note, it's raining again! W00t! I love the rain…spent twelve hours waiting for the damn rain to come to my side of town though…**  
Music: **Hymn of the Fayth – FFX OST; Ending – FFX; FFVII - OST

* * *

**Covetousness**

Chapter Ten: Computers

Duo woke up in the morning to the sound of Wufei entering his apartment. The braided man groaned and threw the covers over his head, trying desperately to hide from the other man. He heard the sound of footsteps entering his room, although muffled by the quilt over his head. He could have sworn he heard Wufei sigh, followed by the sound of the curtains being wrenched open. Light surrounded him, despite the thick quilt Duo had thrown over his head. He turned onto his stomach quickly, grabbing the pillow and pushing it to the back of his head, trying desperately to drown out the light but to no avail. His bed sagged slightly with weight, and Duo knew that Wufei had taken a seat next to him.

'What do you want Fei?' He grumbled, his voice muffled by the many layers thrown over his head.

'I want you to get your ass out of bed Maxwell.' Came Wufei's stern response. 'Damn it Maxwell, it's almost noon!'

'Doesn't surpass my ultimate record.' Duo groaned, forgoing the pillow and throwing it in the direction of Wufei's voice. The Chinese man grunted, and Duo smiled, knowing he got a hit.

'I have breakfast, or lunch, or whatever the hell you want to call it.'

'I'm not hungry.' Duo whined, pulling the quilt tighter around himself. Wufei sighed again, and Duo felt the duvet being pulled from him. He struggled with the Chinese man for it, but sleepy limbs did not work well in combat, and he soon found himself losing his grip on the quilt. Unfiltered light surrounded him, blinding him for a moment. He screamed something childish, and Wufei snorted.

'You suck Fei.' Duo grumbled, turning himself so that his back faced the Chinese man.

'No more than you do.' Wufei sighed. 'Maxwell, in case you haven't noticed, we do have a job.'

'I'll do my job as soon as I finish sleeping.' Duo protested stubbornly, throwing his arms over his head. Wufei sighed yet again, but he placed his hand on Duo's back and started rubbing in a comforting manner. The two remained silent for a moment, with Wufei staring at the opposite wall and Duo staring at the bit of wall just under the windows.

'You want to talk about it?' Wufei asked after a moment, his hands still rubbing Duo's back. The American scowled, his muscles suddenly tense. Wufei's hand paused for a brief moment, sensing Duo's agitation but refusing to voice it. Silence filled the room once again, broken only by the busy sounds outside and the various gadgets Duo had in his room.

'What's there to talk about Wuffers?' Duo asked dully. 'I let an injured man run from me.'

'How?' Oh yes, the ever persistent question. Duo sighed, taking on the habit once again.

'I saw him run, so I chased after him. He was near the end of the corridor, so I fired. My bullet got his arm, but the guy barely stopped to inspect the wound. He dodged into the fire escape, so I raced in there after him. He was a couple of flights faster than me, but he had a leg wound or something, so his speed was minimal. Not that you could tell by just looking at him though…man this guy can run. I caught up with him, fired again. The bullet got his other leg, and he fell down a flight of stairs in the process. I caught up with him, but then he stood up, and lumbered away. I suppose I was in shock. You have to be a superhuman to keep walking after such an injury! But he got up and walked off, and by the time I recovered, he was almost out of sight. I fired another few times, but totally missed. The end.'

Duo had skirted around the truth, given Wufei only half of what had happened. But he was not going to mention how he was unable to shoot Heero, or how Heero had kissed him. He felt a blush creeping up his face at the thought and scowled. He was being stupid thinking about it, because Heero definitely was not. The guy probably did it simply to throw him off guard. Tactical maneuver, do everything in one's power to win. Still, Duo could not help but wonder if the other man had spent an entire sleepless night because of it. Unconsciously, his right hand flew to his mouth, the back of his hand settling on his lips. That bastard Yuy! How dare he mess with Duo's feelings like this! Now the braided man knew that he would not be able to shoot him, suppose they crossed paths again. Duo groaned: what a twisted situation this was all turning out to be!

'Well, while you were moping about losing to a practically incapacitated man.' Wufei's words cut through his thoughts like a knife, and Duo found himself jolting, having completely forgotten about the other man being there. 'I did a little field work. Went to the Peacecraft Estate, found that nothing inside was touched, but there appeared to have been some sort of disturbance in the backyard pavilion. One the chairs were smashed, and there was blood everywhere. I'm assuming that was Yuy's work.'

'Glass chairs?' Duo asked, sitting up slightly to look at Wufei. The Chinese man nodded, reaching for a small camera attached to a cord around his neck. He took it off and handed it to Duo, who hastily turned it on and took a moment to stare at the images. Just like Wufei had said, one of the glass chairs were smashed, and many of the larger pieces were so coated in blood, Duo had the feeling that Heero ripped them out of himself. 'How did this happen?'

'No clue.' Wufei took back the camera. 'From what I could see, there were no disturbances save this. The house was perfectly fine, but the front door was only used once. There was a trail of blood leading from the pavilion round to the front gate, suggesting that Yuy did something to hurt himself and then lumbered away to a hospital for some treatment. I also checked up with the hospital, guess who Yuy signed in as?'

'Enlighten me.' Duo sighed, reaching over for the document Wufei was pulling out of his laptop bag. The Chinese man handed the papers over with a smug look on his face, and Duo felt a moment of trepidation before accepting the papers and scanning it. His eyes fell on the name at the top, and felt a smile split his own face. 'He definitely knew Lowe if he used that guy's name as his own.'

'Yuy was suffering from amnesia, but this could mean he's getting his memories back.' Wufei pointed at various sections on the paper. 'He probably has no clue who Lowe is, but knows the name for some reason, so decided to use it. No harm in that. The address and such however are a different story. Can addresses be faked at the hospitals?'

'No.' Duo felt his grin grow wider. 'The hospitals are secured with a program that is updated every day. The only addresses it would take are ones that are already in its system under addresses which could hold residents, and the phone numbers patients give are matched to the ones already listed in the server. Hence making sure that nobody gives out a fake ID.'

'Which means that Yuy is either staying at this place, or went there at some point.' Wufei grinned again. 'So, care for a ride Maxwell.'

'Never been more eager for one.'

* * *

Heero groaned as he sat up slowly, feeling pain ripple all over his body. He was lying on Trowa's couch once again, which was a miracle, considering the state at which he returned to the green-eyed man's apartment in. Trowa had been concerned and asked plenty of questions, but Heero evaded him by responding with a few made up responses. He blamed the glass cut to falling onto a bottle when he tripped on the street, and the bullet wounds the fault of a drunk girl who though he was her unfaithful boyfriend. Trowa laughed at the final remark, assuring Heero that the same thing had happened to him previously, although he had been lucky and the girl had only tried attacking him with a chair. Trowa had found the first-aid kit, and helped Heero treat his wounds. The emerald-eyed man had left briefly after that, returning with some Italian takeout which was to be their dinner. Heero had thanked Trowa yet again for his hospitality, to which the other man responded with a wave of his hands. Trowa had given him a change of clothes and retired to his room after that, and Heero decided that sleep would be a good thing also. He had tried sleeping after that, but the events of the day kept flooding back, especially his encounter with a certain violet-eyed man. 

Heero had wanted to thank Duo for letting him off, and a quick scan through his memory told him that a kiss would be good for gratitude. So, he had done just that, but apparently it was not correct, for Duo looked about as surprised as a child when he first discovered that there was no such thing as Santa Claus. Nonetheless, the other man was stunned enough to be rooted to the spot, which gave Heero time to run off had he suddenly decided to shoot him again. Duo did try, but it was more of a show for his partner who was fast arriving. Heero had not bothered to dodge: the bullets were so obviously off target that there was no need to. He had stolen a car after that, and took it to within a block of Trowa's place before abandoning it in an alleyway and walking the last small distance.

Heero glanced over at the digital clock on Trowa's wall, although he could not understand why he kept looking at it. He had checked the clock only a moment ago, and time did not change much over the course of a minute. Heero stood up, and after managing to stay steady, proceeded towards Trowa's room. For the next bit of work he had in mind, he would require the use of a laptop, and he hoped that Trowa had one. The other man did not look much into computers, but Heero decided that he should ask anyway.

'Trowa.' Heero greeted as he entered Trowa's room. The other man looked up from the music he was previously pouring over, and smiled.

'Morning Heero.' He returned. 'Feeling better?'

'Somewhat.' Heero admitted. 'Listen, I was wondering, do you have a computer of any form?'

'A computer?' Trowa looked thoughtful. 'Yea, actually! A friend of mine gave me a laptop for my last birthday, he's a real computer genius, but I know nothing about them. It's still in the bag he gave me.'

At this, Trowa rose from his seat to go rummage in his wardrobe, pushing past several boxes of random items before reemerging with a black laptop bag in his hands.

'You can borrow it.' Trowa said as he handed Heero the laptop. 'I never even touched it, and the only reason I'm not giving it to you is because it was a gift, and you know how rude it is to give away gifts.'

'Yes.' Heero accepted the laptop gratefully. 'Thank you.'

'You are going to head out again today?' Trowa asked, settling down at his desk once again. Heero nodded in response, securing the bag around his shoulders. Trowa turned and grinned wryly. 'Well, steer clear of psychopathic females!'

'Rest assured.' Heero nodded his goodbye. 'I will.'

* * *

Duo and Wufei found themselves stopping in front of a bar. Wufei made a face, and Duo sighed. A silent agreement passed between them and they both got out of the car, with Duo as the lead. They entered the bar together, adjusting slowly to the dim lighting. Everything about the bar radiated class, despite the smallness of everything. It was one of those high class bars that you had to wear suits to attend, something that Duo was definitely lacking. He wondered dully to himself whether expensive bars and expensive drinks had been a Heero-thing before he lost his memories, but decided to ignore it. That was not the problem in the present moment. 

Duo approached the front desk, pulling out a photo of Heero as he went. The bartender gave him a questioning look as he settled the photo down on the counter, turning the picture around to look at it clearly.

'I'm looking for this man.' Duo explained. 'Have you seen him?'

'I don't know.' The guy looked thoughtful. 'I see a lot of people…but I think he might have been here the day before yesterday. I can remember because he was the only person who wasn't wearing formal clothes.' He paused here and waved an arm in the air, flagging a waitress as she passed. 'You should asked Cassidy, she was the one that served him.'

Duo nodded his thanks just as Cassidy approached. She gave him a questioning look as she placed the tray she had been carrying down on the counter, one hand placed firmly on a hip. Duo pulled the photo over and showed it to her.

'I'm looking for this man.' He murmured. 'Have you seen him?'

'Yes.' The girl took the photo, stared at it closer, then handed it back. 'He was here two nights ago, dressed in jeans and a shirt. Ordered a gin martini. I thought that he would not have the cash to pay for it, but apparently I was wrong. Trowa, that's one of our pianists, joined him after that, bought him another seven martinis. I was surprised that the guy was still awake after that, but he seemed to be perfectly fine. They left together.'

'Right.' Duo smiled. 'Thanks for your time.'

'No problem.' She picked up the tray again and walked off, returning to her job. Duo tucked the photo back into his pocket, turned and left, indicating for Wufei to follow. The Chinese man nodded and followed, heading towards the car.

'So, what did we find?' Wufei asked once they were both in the car.

'Heero left with some guy called Trowa.' Duo answered, reaching under the chair for Wufei's laptop. He turned the device on and logged onto the internet with a sense of detachment. Duo shook himself mentally, cursing himself for his weakness. So what if Heero was staying with some other guy, if he was homeless and was given a chance to crash at somebody's house, then he would take it too. Still nodding to himself, Duo accessed the Human Resource Server, checking up the name Trowa. The search returned only one result: a Trowa Barton currently residing at 25/374 Kings Road. He told Wufei as much, and the other man nodded his acknowledgement before starting up the car and driving off. In the meantime, Duo hacked his way into the military server, searching for the name Odin Lowe. His search returned one result, although it was placed behind a level two security gate. Level two gates were easy to conquer, and Duo soon found himself staring at the military ID of Odin Lowe. He ignored the majority of the file, his attention fixed firmly on the family section. Just as he expected, the file stated under family: Son; adopted; LOWE, Zero.

'I now see why we couldn't find a wife for Lowe.' Duo sighed. 'His son was adopted.'

'That makes sense I suppose.' Wufei responded, eyes fixed on the road and currently attempting to decide whether he should plow through the opposite side of the road or ride onto the sidewalk. Duo's eyes were still fixed on the screen, under the name Zero. Hastily, he clicked on the name, and was surprised when he ran into a ninth level gate. He must have voiced his surprise, because Wufei took the time to stop his car at the red light and look over, a questioning look on his face.

'I clicked on the son, and his file is protected by a ninth level lock.' Duo sank back into his seat. 'Even the most secret assassins are only placed under sixth level locks, max! How…how strange…'

'Can you break it?' Wufei asked, stepping down on the accelerator once again and propelling the car forward like an arrow.

'I don't know.' Duo sighed. 'I've never gone beyond a seventh level lock, and that took me days. Just what the hell is this kid?'

'Break through and we'll find out I suppose.' Wufei sighed, breaking so quickly that Duo felt the seatbelt cut into his shoulder. 'I'll go check things with Barton, and you can continue your job.'

'Sure.' Duo whispered, eyes still fixed on the laptop screen, fingers already racing across the keyboard in an attempt to break the lock. Despite this, a nagging voice at the back of his mind still restrained him from performing at his best. He tried to push the thought away, tried to hope as best as he could that this was not _him_. But still, the name Zero echoed in his mind, matched by the face of blue-eyed boy who only ever smiled for him.

Duo shook his head quickly, ridding himself of his plunge down memory lane. He could reminisce later, but right now, he had a job to do. That in mind, he cracked his knuckles once more and set to breaking the security gates as best as he could. A positive beeping from the computer told him that he had just broken through three gates, and Duo felt his muscles tense. This was where the difficult part began.

* * *

Heero Yuy paused as he passed by a bank, unsure with what he was about to do. His mind assured him that there was no way around it, and he would not be taking much anyway. With a sigh, he continued walking, turning into the nearest alleyway. Swift as a shadow, Heero hid himself behind a pair of trashcans, pulled out Trowa's laptop and switched the device on. The thing started up quickly – definitely a well built computer. Swiftly, he switched on the wireless internet and connected to the bank server. His hands instantly began their dance across the keyboard, and his brain processed the information at an almost inhuman rate. He could barely keep up with his subconscious line of thought, not that he needed to. Within two minutes, Heero had already successfully created a new bank account under the title Samuel White (about the most random name he could come up with), and filled the account with two hundred dollars worth of savings. Smiling, he logged off the computer, placed the laptop back into its bag and strolled back to the bank. 

He willed his body to act casual as he approached the counter, a feet which was surprisingly easily done. Heero could feel his heart rate slow, just like he wanted and his breathing deepen. Perfect control. He asked the lady behind the counter for a withdrawal, giving the name of his fake, virtual man, his made up birth date and phone number. Once satisfied, the lady handed Heero the two hundred dollars he requested. The blue-eyed man nodded his thanks, pocketed the cash and strolled off with a feeling that the act was almost too easy and too familiar. He wondered dully if he had been a thief in his previous life, although the occupation did not seem to fit well for somebody who was married to Relena Peacecraft.

Heero stopped himself at a small café and tucked himself in the most unobtrusive spot in the entire café. He ordered a triple-shot mocha with two sugars, sat down and started up the laptop once again. From his corner, Heero could easily see all entrances and exits, and everybody within the shop. He was also in the blind-spot of the three security cameras, a fact he was happy to note. Satisfied, Heero logged onto the computer once again, this time accessing into the Human Resource Server. There, he found a copy of his own ID, which looked surprisingly foreign. He copied the file across anyway, although he knew there was something unusual about it. Quickly, he hacked further into the server, searching for a modification date, and was unsurprised to find that the file was altered the day after his escape. They must have been expecting him to hack into the server if that was the case. Quickly, he raked through his memories, and came across the name Odin Lowe once again. He had been unsure why he used the name in hospital the previous date, but it must have had some significance.

The search result brought him to the file of a man who had died close to twenty years prior. Heero knew instantly that there was definitely something familiar about the man. Scrolling down, Heero found himself stopping when he reached the man's occupation: military personnel. Eyes narrowing, Heero opened yet another window and accessed the military server. He broke through the security with ease, and discovered Odin Lowe's file to be behind a level two security gate. The phrase rung a bell in his mind, and his hands set off once again while his brain processed the incoming information quickly. Lowe's file soon found itself on Heero Yuy's screen, and subject to the man's careful scrutiny. Heero took in all of Lowe's information, copying the data across to his computer. He was reading through the file carefully for the second time that he found himself stumbling at the mention of Lowe's son.

Zero Lowe.

He did a search on the HR Server for the son, but was surprised to find no file on him. Eyebrows furrowed, he clicked on the name in Lowe's file, knowing that a result would only appear if the boy was part of the military. Surprisingly, there was a returning match, placed behind a level nine security gate. Heero felt his throat go dry, something he quickly cured with the help of his coffee. Taking in a steady breath, Heero proceeded, although feeling a growing sense of trepidation as he plowed on. His hands and his subconscious did its job, quickly breaking through the security gates as if it was something he did every day. The "Access Granted" phrase soon found itself in the center of the screen, and Heero pressed the enter key with sweaty fingers.

The file of Zero Lowe loaded, and he found himself staring at a mirror of himself, only younger. Before something strange could happen, Heero copied the file across and quickly logged off the server. He closed the lid with such a loud snap that a couple sitting at the next table stared at him with almost fear. Heero packed the laptop quickly, grabbed his coffee and left in a hurry, feeling his knees grow weak as he walked. Silently, he urged himself to cross the road and make it across to Central Park, before finally collapsing under a large oak tree. The coffee spilled, but he paid it no mind. With shaking fingers, Heero opened the laptop once more, eyes skimming over file before him.

LOWE, Zero. Adopted son of LOWE, Odin from the Maxwell Church at the age of five. Placed under the care of one Dr. Jeremy "J" Anders. Became an assassin at the age of six. Killed in Action at the age of twenty-five under the alias Heero Yuy.

Heero snapped the laptop shut again, already feeling the descent into unconsciousness. He just had time to pack the laptop and grip onto it tightly before everything went black and nothingness swallowed him.

* * *

Wufei knocked loudly against the door, waiting for a response. There was some shuffling noise within the apartment, then footsteps, before the door was opened by a man with green eyes and the most unusual haircut. Wufei introduced himself quickly, and stated clearly that he was looking for a man named Heero while showing Trowa in picture. Trowa took the picture, admitted that Heero had been sharing the apartment with him, but had not left in the morning as he always did. Wufei quickly thanked the other man for his time, and Trowa nodded before closing the door. Even as he walked back down towards the car, the feeling of wrongness did not leave him. 

He found Maxwell sitting in the car, still pouring over the laptop and typing so furiously that Wufei thought he would break the machine. He decided as an after thought that he would purchase a new laptop after this whole escapade ended, and give what was left of the current one to Maxwell. A laptop for him was a tool, and tools with keyboards on which the letters had long since been worn off due to furious overuse was something he could do without. Perhaps Maxwell could remember where every single letter and button was, but he definitely needed the reference once in a while.

He joined the braided man in the car, reclining his seat and leaning his head on folded arms. Maxwell asked him what he had found, and he responded by saying that Yuy would definitely return, since he had spent the past two days at this compound. He did not need to say anything else for Maxwell to realize that a stakeout was under way.

Wufei's eyes quickly fell shut, encouraged to sleep by soft, rhythmic tapping of Maxwell's fingers over the keyboard. He opened his eyes every so often to check that Yuy was not in sight, but he was not expecting Yuy to make an entrance so early in the day. Trowa said that Yuy normally returned late at night, and it was only three in the afternoon. Wufei sighed yet again, reaching into the dashboard to fetch a pair of sunglasses.

He hated stakeouts.

* * *

Duo continued his typing frantically, five locks down and four to go. Wufei's steady breathing next to him told him that the other man had fallen asleep, which was expected, since the other man had so little to do and so much time. Wiping a bit of sweat from his brow, Duo breathed in deeply, cracked his knuckles yet again and continued typing. His unsuccessful attempts at level six stared back at him, the various "Access Denied" phrases staring back at him, mocking him. Still, he persisted, searching for a loophole amongst the coding that would allow him access and let him delve ever so slightly further into the secret behind Heero Yuy. 

It was almost ten evening when he finally broke through the ninth level gate. For a moment, all he could do was stare at the screen with a smile on his face, the distinct feeling of accomplishment pulsing through his veins. "Access Granted" stared back at him in bold letters, flashing in the center of the screen. Happily, Duo tapped the "enter" key once more, opening the file of one Zero Lowe.

Heero Yuy's image stared back at him.

With shaking fingers, Duo scrolled down the document and copied it across to Wufei's laptop, desperate not to lose the file he had tried so hard to get. Even as he worked, Duo felt a large knot grow in his stomach. Zero Lowe, adopted son of Odin Lowe, removed from the Maxwell Church orphanage when he was five.

Now he knew that the Zero this file was referring to was the same Zero from his childhood. How he ended up in the military was completely beyond him, especially for his file to be placed under a level nine security lock.

Wufei grunted next to him, reminding Duo of the other man's presence. He breathed out deeply before hitting the other man hard on the arm, jolting him out of his sleep. Wufei made a few agitated noises, ripping off his sunglasses fluidly and giving Duo a full on glare.

'What on earth Maxwell?'

'Got the file.' Duo announced proudly. 'Zero Lowe, adopted kid, and our missing fugitive.'

'Also behind a ninth level lock.' Wufei stretched. 'So, now what?'

'We're staking out Fei.'

'Wufei.' Wufei responded almost tiredly. 'And I know perfectly well that we're staking out.'

'Sure.' Duo yawned. 'Damn I hate this…'

Duo's cell phone rang suddenly, surprising him. He picked up quickly, only to find Quatre on the line. The blond sounded distraught, probably because Duo had not called him in ages. Duo knew how spastic Quatre could get when he failed to call, and silently berated himself for not having called earlier.

'Hi Q.' He greeted tiredly, barely suppressing a yawn.

'Duo!' Quartre's voice was angry. 'You haven't called in ages! Do you realize how worried I was?'

'Quatre…' Duo sighed. 'I'm not some kind of idiot that strays off to dangerous situations daily. Besides, you never did show up with that food.'

'I'm so sorry Duo.' It was truly amazing how quickly the blond could shift moods. 'I got a bit held up with work and stuff, and when I finally did drop by, you weren't home. So tell me, what have you been doing?'

'Stuff, Quatre.' Duo answered. 'Stuff.'

'Brilliant Duo.' Quatre huffed on the other line. 'Promise me you'll visit me by the end of the week?'

'Sure Q.' Duo promised. 'I promise.'

He did not know how binding that promise was going to be.

* * *

Deep in the core of a building, a man sat in front of a wall of flat-screen televisions, all of which were currently on and displaying images from various surveillance feeds all over the town. A desk sat before the screens, on which a laptop computer. The computer was currently displaying the progress of another computer labeled "01", flickering on and off every so often as the computer it was connected to was switched on and off. A man sat before this desk, a small bittersweet smile on his face as he stared from the computer to the various other monitors all over the wall. His glance rounded on one displaying another man bent over a desk, pouring over some papers on the desk. The man in question looked up every so often and smiled, conveying his knowledge of being watched. Back in his dark fortress, the mysterious man continued his surveillance, finally turning his gaze on a digital clock fixed on the wall. The red digits continued their countdown steadily, but he knew that the numbers will never reach zero. The whole situation would end long before that. 

The man sighed, sinking back into his large, executive chair. A lone tear slid down his face, dropping soundlessly onto his shirt. Quietly, he murmured two words that went unheard by the rest of the world.

'Goodbye Zero.'

* * *

**Endnotes:**

Unsatisfactory, as in really terrible! I'm really irritated with this chapter, and this irritation just won't change despite how many times I reread it. It just doesn't flow, seriously. Everything is just totally disjoined, not that the rest of the story isn't. Bleh…well, what can I say…not much. Sigh…Well, if it makes you guys feel any better, we'll find out about Heero's past next chapter. Yay! Memories! Anyway…yea…

Assassin, signing off.


	11. Chapter Eleven: Heero I

**Progress: **11 of 14**  
General Notes: **It's been a while since I last updated, and damn. School started…again, which sucks majorly. We're finishing off the calculus section in maths, which sucks, because I actually like calculus. And our next topic is probability, which has simply got to be the most bastard topic in the entire mathematics syllabus. In any case, here is the next chapter of Covetousness. It's all broken and segmented, but that was the effect I was going for. Hope you guys all enjoy it!**  
Music: **Hymn of the Fayth – FFX OST; Once Upon a December – Anastasia OST; Butterfly – Digimon Soundtrack; All about Men – Eason; Place for my Head – Linkin Park; Oblivion – Kotoko; Light of Love – Brainpowered (I think that's what they're called); Sakura – Prince of Tennis sixth ending theme; FFV - OST

* * *

**Covetousness**

Chapter Eleven: Heero 

A little boy sat on the steps of an old church, eagerly awaiting the arrival of his only friend. Zero did not like to play with the other kids, except with Duo. But Duo was amongst the youngest in the orphanage, and spent a majority of his time at the heels of Sister Helen. Not that Zero minded. If it made Duo happy to follow the sister everywhere, then he was not complaining. Loneliness was not something he particularly minded, but rather a good friend he had long since become acquainted with. Zero always knew that he was different from the other children, on both the outside and the inside. He had cold blue eyes that told of an obvious European lineage, yet the rest of his features pointed in the oriental direction. He could also run faster, jump higher and was overall physically stronger than most far older than him. Somebody once told him that it was because of his strangeness that he was abandoned, and that nobody would ever love him, but Zero knew they were wrong. Duo loved him, and that was enough.

In the distance, he heard Duo squeal and dash over, his small stub of a ponytail bouncing with his movement. The boy engulfed Zero in a tight hug, all the while singing at the top of his voice. If it were anyone else, Zero would have been annoyed. But it was Duo, and that made everything okay.

* * *

'Hey Zero?' Zero looked up from the book he had been reading, seeing Duo settle down on the floor before him. He cast the younger boy a questioning look, and Duo smiled, but his face remained confused. 'Why are you called Zero?' 

'I don't know.' Zero replied. 'Probably the same reason you're called Duo.'

'You say Duo means two right?' Duo asked. 'So there's two of me?'

'No, there's just one of you Duo.' Zero responded. 'You're unique Duo.'

'Then you're unique too!' Duo smiled, saying the word with difficulty. Zero smiled at him fondly, but his smile betrayed his own pain.

'I'm not unique.' He muttered. 'I'm nothing, just like my name.'

'That's not true Zero!' Duo cried. 'Zero is the Hero!'

'I'm the Hero now am I?' Zero asked with amusement, folding the corner of the page he was reading and tucking it away. Duo grinned widely, showing two missing teeth.

'Yea!' If it was possible, his grin grew wider. 'Zero is my hero!'

'Yes.' Zero smiled. 'Your hero.'

* * *

Duo was crying on the bottom step of the chapel, his slowly growing ponytail completely gone. Zero raced over quickly, looking frantic. Still crying, Duo told Zero about the other children complaining about his hair and one of them cutting it off. Zero was suddenly very angry. Gently, he pulled Duo into a hug and took the other boy inside before setting off across the courtyard in search of the kids responsible for chopping off Duo's hair. He found them easily enough – the only children in the entire courtyard in possession of scissors. Without question, Zero grabbed the scissors and lunged forwards. By the next morning, all three of the boys responsible for Duo's pain the previous day had no hair left on their heads, and Zero was put into solitary confinement by a huffing Sister Helen. 

Still, it was worth while just to see Duo smile again when he found the other children with no hair at all.

* * *

Odin Lowe arrived one fateful day in summer, adopting Zero and removing him from the orphanage. Duo cried, and he did not like it at all. But Odin persisted and dragged him away. Zero was angry at his foster-father for weeks after that, not that it really mattered. Odin never paid him any mind at all. Odin lived at an apartment which he shared with many other soldiers, and they taught Zero how to use a gun. Zero did not need to be taught. He watched them do it once and learnt completely, and filled in the gaps in his knowledge by reading books. The other men never paid Zero any mind either, almost as if they did not know he was there at all. All except one man called J. He seemed fascinated by everything Zero did, and often made Zero run laps and hack computers. He was always happy to watch Zero get somewhere, although Zero never felt anything from his praises. He knew that J was just using him as a guinea pig, but that did not matter. J did not discriminate him for his differences, and that was okay. 

Odin did not like J though. He would see J with Zero and grit his teeth. He hardly ever did anything about it, but Zero could still see his anger. Zero did not pay Odin any mind, why should he, considering how little the other man cared for him. Odin showed him how to kill a rabbit with a gun, but the time he was six, Zero was killing people. It all seemed so surreal. Heero would advance on the unsuspecting victim and pull the trigger, and the person would die. Simple. Odin did it too, but Odin always drank after his missions. His face would become completely red and he would speak incoherently, but Zero would always sit nearby when Odin did this. Odin when drunk was perhaps the only time he ever felt close to his foster-father, the only time when Odin would drop all inhibitions and cry like a normal person.

Odin died when Zero was seven. The military listed him as killed in action, but that was not true. Odin came home after particular mission with a grave expression on his face, and hit the liquor immediately. Later that night as he laid with his upper body completely draped over the table, he told Zero to think, and not allow himself to be a pawn for someone else's game. To follow his own heart and not the orders of somebody else. He gave Zero a gun after that, and told the boy to pull the trigger. Zero released the safety and pointed the gun at his foster-father's head. Odin smiled when he died, it was a bittersweet smile that told Zero volumes about the man he never knew. A man who died bitter with the weight of failure heavy on his chest. The military gave him a grand burial, one of the best assassin's they ever had. J took custody of Zero after that.

* * *

J gave Zero a room far away from everyone else, and gave him strange pills to take every day. Sometimes, he would give Zero pills which put the boy out for days. Zero would always wake up back in his bed, sometimes with bandages over his body. It was not important though. He would get up, receive a mission and run off to kill more people. Zero could not even count how many people he ended up killing. Somehow, his childhood passed as a big blur. Sometimes, he could not tell when he was awake and when he was dreaming, everything was surreal, his life was surreal. When he was sixteen, he was acquainted with Quatre Winner, a boy with kind blue eyes and golden hair. Zero told Quatre everything about his life, even though he knew he was not supposed to. J knew about their relationship, but he said that it was okay. As long as it was only Quatre Zero told, then everything was alright. Zero was glad, he had somebody to talk to, and Quatre would always listen with a kind smile on his face.

* * *

When Zero was nineteen, he was assigned to Relena Peacecraft as her bodyguard. The first time they met, he greeted her in the way J had told him to greet women: he took her hand and kissed it. Relena looked slightly flustered by the gesture, but she smiled it off. She introduced herself, even though there was no need to. Zero knew who she was, everybody did. But he followed suit and introduced himself as well in the name that J had told him to use: Heero Yuy. Relena said she liked the name, and asked for its meaning, but Heero could give her none. Heero, a name derived from Hero, something that somebody once called him but he could no longer remember. He told Relena as much, and she smiled cheerfully. 

'You're going to be my hero from now on!' She had joked, but Heero did not return the smile. He was somebody else's hero, not Relena's. The foreign minister sensed his discomfort and told him that it was a joke. Still, Heero did not smile. He did not understand jokes. Still, Relena smiled and chuckled at various things. Heero had a feeling she was laughing for the both of them.

* * *

Relena spoke a lot. She talked about her dead father, a great person with brilliant ideals, and never lived to see the peace between the colonies he had worked so hard to establish. She spoke about her mother, a woman who she hardly knew, and only referred to her as mother by title only. Relena admitted that when her mother died, she had felt very little pain save the small prickle that somebody died. 

'I know it was wrong.' Relena had murmured. 'But I never knew the woman, and try as I might, I can't feel true sadness for somebody I never knew. Do you understand that Heero?'

'Yes.' Heero admitted. 'I felt the same when my father died.'

* * *

Relena had a lot of enemies, but she would always smile it off as if it were nothing. Heero never let her get hurt, but the girl was never stunned when bullets began to fly. Some times, Heero would see her sitting alone by the small lake, on the steps of her white pavilion, crying quietly. She would never cry when she saw him near by though. Instead, she would smile and laugh and when she learnt of a new possible threat, she would joke about it and make the whole situation into something amusing. Heero secretly admired her strength, her ability to put on such a façade. The only times Relena ever slipped was when Heero was not watching, or when she thought Heero was not watching. 

Sometimes, Heero thought that Relena was keeping up the smiling face for him.

Somehow, that hurt more than getting shot in the chest.

* * *

Heero and Relena were having a game of chess when Relena proposed. They were in the stone pavilion, playing with a set of chess that the foreign minister had purchased only a few days prior. She was good at chess, but unfortunately, Heero was better. Still, she enjoyed herself, and Heero found the whole thing fascinating. It was nice to be pulling the strings for once. 

'Hey Heero?' Relena's voice was hesitant.

'Hn?' Heero responded distractedly, deep in the process of formulating a new plan of attack since Relena seemed to have seen through his previous one.

'Will…will you marry me?'

'Huh?' It was one of the few times in Heero's life where he found himself stunned beyond coherency. His eyes lifted from the chessboard quickly, fixing Relena's with a confused stare. Relena herself was blushing and fumbling with the champagne flute she had been drinking out of, her eyes on everything but Heero.

'Well, we are good friends aren't we Heero?' She asked, although her eyes were trained on the cup in her hands. 'You're the only person I've been so comfortable around, and you are always looking after me. We are with each other most of the time anyway, I really don't see how different we are from a married couple already.'

'I'm your bodyguard.' Heero pointed out firmly. 'You are my client.'

'Regardless!' Relena looked almost crestfallen. 'Please?'

'I need to consult my superiors.' Was all Heero could manage before letting his gaze drop back to the chessboard before him, former strategy completely forgotten.

* * *

'I think it's a great idea.' Quatre smiled as he leaned back in his chair, sipping at his tea. Heero gave him a confused look, but the blond man simply smiled and shrugged his shoulders, looking relaxed as he closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the music playing in the background. Quatre adored classical music, which was why there was always something orchestral playing in the large study room. At present, Beethoven's Tempest was playing softly, piano notes barely echoing around the chamber. 'You like her, she likes you, why not? She is right, you know? You two do spend an awful lot of time together.' 

'She's my job Quatre.' Heero sighed, pouring himself some cognac. He rarely indulged in alcohol in public, but drinking when at Quatre's place had long since become a habit. The blond always made sure that there was a bottle of something and some glasses on the coffee table when Heero came to visit, and being the friend he was, always put out drinks that Heero enjoyed the most.

'Well, in the end, it's your decision Heero.' Quatre said mildly, refilling his cup. 'Relena won't force you to marry her if you don't want to.'

'It's never my choice Quatre.' Heero murmured quietly, sinking down on the couch beside his blond-haired friend.

'There's always a choice Heero.' Quatre said comfortingly, patting Heero on the shoulder. 'Don't make a trial of everything Heero. You're alive, so live your life like you want to.'

'You sound like Odin.' Heero muttered coldly, pouring himself another glass of cognac and downing it quickly. '"Cut away all strings and live everyday of your life the way you want to", the hypocrite. He was a pawn for the military all the way until the moment he drew his last breath.'

'That's why he told you Heero.' Quatre sipped at his tea again. 'He didn't want you to make the same mistake as him.'

* * *

Heero got married to Relena only a few weeks after she proposed. J had decided the marriage would be beneficial somehow, and had ordered Heero to accept it. Naturally, Heero had accepted after that. How could he not? J had given him the order, so he had to accept. Relena had been happy, but of course did not know anything about J. They married in a very small ceremony on Heero's request, which had originally been J's, with very few attendees. Relena was happy regardless, and in that moment, Heero was glad that he could give back some of the happiness she was always putting on display for his benefit. 

Even though they were married, Relena and Heero did not spend any more time together than before. The blond-haired woman did not seem to mind, and was merely happy that they were together. Heero was often away on other assignments, or places he could not remember. Still, every night when he returned, he would always find Relena in the lounge, waiting for him. She would then hug him tightly and give him a kiss on the cheek. She never asked where he went, and was always smiling. In retrospect, Heero supposed that his wife was in a lot of pain. It was unusual though, for even though he knew she was in pain, he felt little for her. Sometimes, there was the ever so small twinge at his heart, but that was it. Heero never left for long periods of time though, because he knew Relena hated it when he was away. She did not know what job he had beyond being a bodyguard for her, but she there was little to speculate where the occupation of a man who carries guns around wherever he went, despite whether he was on a mission or not, was concerned.

They had a son together, but Heero did not know how. He did not voice his confusion though. Large sections of his life were unclear, and often, he felt as if he was in a dream. Relena had been ecstatic about being pregnant, and told Heero about all the things she would teach their child. She asked Heero whether he wanted a boy or a girl, and Heero had responded truthfully that he did not care, that either was good since it would be their child. Relena had smiled wilder then than Heero had ever seen her, and he felt a small surge of happiness within himself as well. But it was gone moments later, and he was left feeling as if he had just lost something important.

It was the first time he realized there might have been something really wrong with him. He did not tell Relena, but he had a feeling she knew anyway.

* * *

'Quatre?' Heero asked, taking a seat beside his friend in the large study room, enjoying the Mozart symphony playing in the background for a short moment. The blond man gave him a questioning look as he poured himself some tea. Heero remained silent for a moment, hands moving unconsciously for the liquor set out on the coffee table. He made himself a gin martini with the ingredients present, before leaning back against the couch, eyeing the drink in his hand. 'What's happiness?' 

'Happiness?' Quatre looked surprised. 'Hmm…well, happiness is…it's hard to explain really. It's the feeling you get when you see something you like, or somebody you love. That warm feeling you get when somebody you love tells you they love you back, you know?'

'No.' Heero downed the glass and set it lightly on the coffee table. 'I don't know.'

'No?' Quatre's aquamarine eyes were sad. 'That's a very sad thing Heero. I'm sure there are many people who love you.'

'Do you love me?' Heero asked suddenly, locking Quatre's eyes with his own.

'Yes.' The blond replied instantly, smiling slightly. 'You are very important to me Heero, and I love you dearly. But I'm not the only one. Relena loves you, and that baby she's about to give birth to.'

'The baby isn't even here yet.' Heero poured himself another glass. 'You can't say he or she will love me with any certainty.'

'Yes I can.' Quatre declared firmly, his voice rising ever so slightly. Heero gave him an alarmed look, afraid that he might have offended his friend in some way. But the look Quatre gave him was one of sympathy and pain. 'Oh Heero, you might be a soldier, but please don't equate war with life. Not everybody you meet is going to be an enemy.'

'Not everybody I'll meet will be friends either.' Heero retorted sharply, downing yet another glass.

'You won't make any friends if you keep pushing everybody away!' Quatre looked flustered. He set down his teacup quickly before his shaking fingers broke something. 'You aren't alive if you won't give yourself the chance to live!'

'Then I'm dead Quatre.' Heero's eyes were downcast. 'I've always been dead.'

* * *

Their child turned out to be a boy, whom Relena named Xander, derived from the Greek name Alexander. He was almost a "carbon copy of Heero!" as Relena had said. They shared the same icy-blue eyes, the same slightly oriental features and the messy hair. Xander inherited Relena's light and calm personality though, although Relena insisted that all children were light and happy. 

Seeing Xander chuckle from his place in his mother's arms, Heero wondered if he had ever been that happy.

* * *

Xander was two when he asked the question that started everything. Heero had been returning home after working on a mission for a day, and the little boy had run up to his father for a hug. Heero had returned it awkwardly as always, but the little boy did not seem to realize. Relena was apparently out in the pavilion, working on her next speech, so Xander was not allowed to bother her. Instead, he asked Heero to play with him, but the blue-eyed man had been reluctant as always. He always had the feeling that he may somehow injure the child, which strengthened his tendency to avoid getting too close to his son. After realizing that his father had no interest in playing, the brunet boy asked Heero to make him some food. Heero had agreed there, food was something he could make. 

Heero walked swiftly into the kitchen with young Xander following along behind, running quickly to keep up with his father. When they got there, Xander asked if he could sit on the counter and watch Heero work. Heero agreed, albeit reluctantly. He felt as if such a high place would be dangerous for such a small child, but Xander had promised he would not move around and be very careful. He was going to be standing nearby at all times anyway, Heero thought, he would definitely catch the boy if he fell.

So Heero began to make a sandwich, something simple and quick, but contains enough fiber and nutrients to keep the boy going until dinner. He was in the process of adding ham when Xander asked him where he had been.

'Work.' Heero responded, slicing the ham into smaller pieces and adding them to the sandwich.

'Where does papa go for work?' Xander asked, waving his legs around.

'Office.' Heero answered, although that was a lie. The only time he was ever within an office was to speak to his superiors or attend meetings, but he was prohibited from telling other people what his job included.

'Do you sleep at the office papa?'

'No.' Heero responded shortly, adding a few pieces of lettuce to the sandwich. Finishing it off by adding the other slice of bread, Heero cut the sandwich twice diagonally, forming four small triangles, one which he passed to Xander. The boy accepted happily, taking a big bite out of it and, in his haste, choked on the bread. Heero patted him on the back quickly, and scolded the boy for eating too quickly. Xander apologized, although the look in his eyes said he was anything but.

'Then where do you sleep?' He asked, taking another bite out of his sandwich.

'I sleep at home.' Heero answered, confused. 'I sleep here with you and mother.'

'Did you stay awake for the whole week then papa?' Xander asked, eyes widening. 'Mama won't let me stay up past nine!'

'What are you talking about?' Heero asked, completely confused. 'I left this morning and I came back just then. There is no sleeping involved.'

'You're funny papa!' The little boy chuckled. 'But I can tell time, mama taught me how! You've been away for a whole week papa!'

Heero wanted to tell his son that he had gotten things mixed up, and that Heero had only been away for a short while. But something stopped him, and instead, he ended up patting the boy on the head and congratulating him. Xander was happy with praise, and told Heero all about how every time the sun went rose again, it was a new day. He had apparently counted Heero's absence by doing that: counting the number of sunrises it took for papa to get home. Papa always went for ages at a time, Xander said sadly, it made mama sad because she never knew where papa went. Did not know whether papa was safe. Was office work safe papa? Why did he take so long to get home?

Heero could not remember what answer he had told his boy, but he had soon dismissed his son and was dashing up into his room. He fished out a calendar from Relena's large stack of calendars and hid it in between one of the draws in his study room. He then took to crossing days out every day. At first, things seemed normal. But then he left one day and returned from work to find that he had not crossed out anything for three days. It happened again barely two weeks later, this time with his absence dating back five days. Heero was confused. He always returned knowing what day of the week it was, and yet it was often different from when he left. But he had not done anything during that time…

Heero fell back into his leather chair, calendar falling onto the desk with a clatter. His hands flew to his head, gripping it so tightly it hurt. Just how much of his life was he missing? What had happened to that part of him? Just what was he doing?

Heero fell asleep in the study room that night, feeling more frightened then he had ever felt in his life.

* * *

**Endnotes:**

Okay, that wasn't actually supposed to be the end of the chapter, but it was too long, so I decided to chop it in half. Oh poor Heero, what is wrong with him? Let's hope he doesn't stay in pain…


	12. Chapter Twelve: Heero II

**Progress: **12 of 14**  
General Notes: **Wow, my highest review count per chapter ever! You guys rule! Anyway, I'm glad you people are enjoying the story, and enjoying finding out about Heero's past. Heh, hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as the previous one! Hope I get so many reviews too XD. Anyway, I present all my readers with part two of Heero Yuy's memories. Ohhh…I feel jumpy. After this chapter, there's only two remaining…Anyway, hope you all enjoy this!**  
Music: **Eyes on Me – Faye Wong; Gladiator OST (yes, the entire thing); Balamb Garden – FFVIII OST

* * *

**Covetousness**

Chapter Twelve: Heero II

'There's something wrong with me.' Quatre furrowed his brow as he watched Heero pace around the study room, a bottle of tequila clutched tightly in his hand. The blond was drinking tea as usual as he watched Heero pace nervously. It was unusual, Heero decided, this strange feeling of being jumpy and anxious. He had never felt nervous before, or at least, not this badly, and Chopin's rapid Fantasy Impromptu was not helping. With shaking hands, he brought the bottle to his lips, finishing off a third of the bottle in one go.

'Why don't you tell me about it?' Quatre suggested gently from the couch. 'Don't drink so much Heero, it's bad for you.'

'I keep skipping days.' Heero said quickly, his pacing increasing in speed. Lifting the bottle, he finished off half of what was left. Quatre made a noise from the couch, looking as if he was going to wrench the bottle from Heero at any moment.

'What do you mean skipping days?' The blond asked, confused. 'You're skipping work?'

'No!' Heero replied sharply, as if daring Quatre to think of him in such a way. 'I'd never skip a day of work…at least, I don't think so.'

'You just lost me then.' Quatre gave him an imploring stare. 'What's wrong Heero?'

'I go to work.' Heero started, taking another swig of his drink. 'I go to work, and then I come back at night, and it's a week later.'

'What?' Quatre looked lost. When Heero brought the bottle to his lips again, the blond sprang from the couch, racing over and trying desperately to detach the blue-eyed man from the bottle. But Heero was far stronger and fought him off easily, enjoying the spoils of war soon after by finishing off the bottle.

'It's strange Quatre.' Heero dropped the empty bottle on the coffee table. 'Time seems to be passing, and I'm not even aware of it. I leave in the morning knowing it's Monday, and yet I come home knowing that it's Friday, but still thinking it's the same day as when I left. I don't even remember what happens in between. I go to work, I see J, he gives me my mission, I do it, come home. All in a day's work, but what happened to the other four days?'

'I'm afraid you've lost me again.' Quatre sat down again. 'You're telling me that you leave in the morning, and come home thinking it's the same day's afternoon, only it turns out that several days have passed?'

'Yes.' Heero approached the coffee table again. 'Where's the alcohol Quatre?'

'I think you've had more than enough tonight.' The blond replied flatly, nodding his head at the empty tequila bottle. 'Come, sit down, talk to me.'

'No.' Heero declared, returning to his pacing. 'There's something wrong with me, something really wrong. I don't understand Quatre!'

'You're not making it any better by walking back and forwards like that!' Quatre cried, aquamarine eyes frantic. 'Come on Heero! Calm down, please?'

'I am calm.' Heero responded, voice flat. 'I am always calm. Always calm. Never frantic. Always calm.'

'You don't sound calm!' Quatre protested. 'Sit down Heero, damn it! You're scaring me.'

'I'm broken Quatre.' Heero gave his friend a pained look. 'I need to be fixed.'

'Heero!' Quatre stood up quickly, marching over quickly and dragging the agitated man over to the couch. Heero sat after some persuasion, but his body was thriving with energy, completely restless. 'You're a person! People don't break, and people don't get fixed.'

'J fixes me!' Heero protested, giving Quatre a wild look. 'J always…'

Heero was on his feet again in one rapid movement. Quatre was about to protest, but the brunet was already running off, knocking over the coffee table as he dashed away.

* * *

When he went to work the next day, Heero was careful with what he did and tried memorize everything he saw. When he went to see J, the doctor handed him some pills as usual with a small booklet of documents held within a manila folder. Heero accepted the items as usual, and moved to the back of the cafeteria as always. He was just about to swallow the pills when he reminded himself not to. Setting the pills down, Heero flipped open the folder and examined his job. It was the assassination of some rich man who had taken part in one too many dirty deals. Carefully, Heero stowed the pills away into his breast pocket, and rose from his seat, ready to begin his mission.

His first mission ended normally, so after he handed in his report, he expected to go home as always. Instead, J handed him a second manila folder and dismissed him. Heero nodded like he did after receiving any mission, and left with the folder clutched tightly in his hands. Once he was out of the office, he examined it and felt himself go into a temporary state of shock.

Heero rarely went into shock, and every time he did, it was reported to J. Since beginning his work in the military at the age of six, Heero could count the number of times he went into paralysis due to shock on his two hands. Seven times exactly, now eight. He suspected the number would probably higher had he been awake when he undertook these "extra missions" which had previously gone unnoticed.

The file detailed the location of a prisoner of war camp on the outskirts of a small town in the southernmost point of the country. It included various guard schedules and other timetables. One thing that Heero noticed immediately was that there was a small ninety second interval during the middle of the night where the camp was almost completely unguarded. His mission was simple: to wire the facility and detonate it. No more former-soldiers, no more troubles for the government who had little ideas as to what to do with these people. Heero was angry, but he hid it well. He had a mission to do, and his own personal ideas came second to completing the mission for J. He had never failed J, and he would not fail him now, even if this particular assignment gave him the chills.

Heero returned back to headquarters three days later, with the mission completed and his mind in disarray. Still, he put up the front of calmness for J, frightened that the scientist might discover he had not taken the pills. The doctor took his mission report and dismissed Heero calmly, telling him to take care of himself, and reminding him almost incessantly that it was now Thursday. Heero knew of course, but he had a feeling he was not supposed to. He nodded anyway, as was his standard response and left, the pills still tucked carefully in his breast pocket.

He did his own set of research on those pills a few days later, but found nothing on any database, including the standard military database which matched to what he had.

* * *

Heero was a good hacker. It was one of the many skills he had been taught as a child, and perfected as his life progressed. The weeks following that last mission, Heero never accepted the pills once. He was an expert at his own body, and knew how to keep it calm and in character at all times. J did not notice, and gave out missions as usual. It was always the same sequence: a simple, almost nominal mission, followed by another which was always crueler than anything else. Heero eliminated two federal orphanages amongst other things, and it really made him wonder about the time when he was at an orphanage as well. He could not remember those times clearly, but he did remember that he had been content, satisfied. The feeling was almost foreign, and more often than not, Heero would not feel anything at all when he tried to recall his past. He was surprised that he could remember so little. He even forgot the boy from his orphanage, the one who had once meant so much to him. Heero could not even remember when he had become so forgetful. He knew that when he first married Relena, and she had declared her love for him. All he could do was nod and add silently that any love he had belonged to…he could not remember. No matter which way he looked at it, his childhood seemed to far away, and all Heero could remember of that boy was that small ponytail which was one day going to be a long braid.

Heero broke many laws, including those that had been given to him specifically to keep him out of trouble. J once said that Heero knew too much, was capable of too much, and that the military was frightened he would go out of control. He had added almost scarily after that that he knew Heero would never disobey orders. The blue-eyed man (who had been a boy then) had nodded dutifully, the idea of breaking an order from J about as preposterous as the concept of walking on water. But now, Heero isolated himself in his study room every spare minute he had, and hacked. There was something wrong with him, and he sure as hell was going to find out what it was.

It took him months, but he finally had the answer. A medical file, not under any of his names, but an obscure call-sign number that he had only heard once as a child. The file was so heavily embedded into the system, that it took him weeks alone just to separate it from the database, and then another three days straight of unscrambling. But the results were unlike anything Heero had ever seen before.

Pages after pages of drugs, most of which were in their experimental stages and should not be anywhere near a person, and a couple which had been outlawed years ago and were not even allowed to come into contact with lab rats. Enough medication with enough strange effects to kill at least a dozen normal people, all for him. Most of them were long term drugs, taken over the course of several years at a time. Yet he could not remember any of it. There was always the occasional pill from J, but nothing even close to what he was looking at. J said that the pills were to make him function better, Heero now saw why.

Over eighty percent of the drugs prescribed were for dealing "foreign equipment", for instance: his hands, which could crush stones, could only do so because of strengthening procedure done on his bones, and many alterations in his flesh and skin, so that his skin would break less easily, and heal faster when it did. There were at least fifty different types of nanomachines running through his body, hasting recovery processes, strengthening his defense and keeping him in control of his body, always. Relena had once told him something about him always having control of himself, of what he felt and what his body did. His ability to just make his heart stop beating, she had said, was something that normal people could not do. Heero had not understood then, but he definitely understood now.

* * *

Heero supposed he must have caused Quatre a lot of grief, and if the blond ever developed a mental disorder, then it would be because of him. But when Heero burst into Quatre's house that night (or rather evaded the guards and climbed into the blond man's bedroom through the second floor window), the man had only shown a moment's surprise before alerting a maid to bring in some alcohol, a glass and some tea. He then half fell onto his couch, trying desperately to stay awake for his obviously agitated friend. Once Heero saw that the alcohol had been delivered, and that the maid was long gone, he attacked the bottle of cognac, preferring to drink from the bottle than to trouble himself with pouring the stuff out. The blond gave him a wary look, but did not say anything as he switched on his stereo, allowing Carmen by Georges Bizet to fill the room, probably not the best music for the occasion, considering Heero's agitated state.

'You said I'm a person.' Heero murmured before taking another long swig and setting the bottle down again. 'You said a person can't be broken, can't be fixed. But I can break, and I can be fixed.'

'What are you talking about Heero?' Quatre's eyes were fully awake now.

'I told you I kept skipping days.' Heero reminded, starting to pace around the room. 'I wanted to know why. So I watched what I did, and kept myself from doing anything strange. J gave me some pills, but I didn't take them. I found out why so much time kept passing: he was ordering me to go on missions that no normal person would allow, not even the government would be able to authorize. He trusted my stealth, my control. Damn it Quatre, he used me more like a tool than I ever! A small handful of pills, he gave them to me every time I went to work. I was just too stupid to realize.'

'What?' Quatre looked alarmed. 'He's been drugging you?'

'Yes.' Heero nodded quickly, taking another swig from the bottle. 'I hacked into the military database, and found the file. It was so heavily embedded and encrypted, it took me ages to find and even longer to decode. But I got it in the end. Over the course of my nineteen years here, he has given me over five hundred and seventy different drugs, most of which are illegal, most of which should not be anywhere near a person. But he made me take them Quatre! I was such an idiot, I didn't even realize.'

'That's not your fault Heero.' Quatre said calmly. 'You trusted the man, and he betrayed your trust. Don't hurt yourself over it! It was not an error on your part.'

'I'm so stupid.' Heero took another long drink from the bottle. 'Not only that, but my own person. He changed me Quatre! My organs, my muscles, my tendons, my bones, everything! There are nanomachines running around my body which allows me to stay under superhuman control of my body. Remember Quatre? I once told you that Relena said that my control was strange, now I know it is! Damn it! I can lower my blood pressure at my leisure, make my heart stop beating to pretend that I'm dead…worst of all Quatre, he took away my memories. I…I find myself forgetting more every day, but I don't know what I'm forgetting. I…I can't even remember that boy from the orphanage…was he even a boy Quatre? He had long hair, but boys don't have long hair.'

'Calm down Heero.' Quatre's voice cut sharply through Heero's babbling like a knife through butter. The blond smiled weakly and patted the seat next to him, indicating for Heero to sit down. The brunet sat down despite himself, but remained agitated. 'And please stop drinking so much, or I'll have to order my maids to bring you something non-alcoholic.'

'Name one time when I got drunk.' Heero grunted, pointedly tipping half of what was left down his throat.

'There's always a first.' Quatre warned, reaching over to tug the bottle out of Heero's hands. The man swerved away quickly, finishing off the rest of the bottle and dropping it down on the coffee table.

'I can't get drunk Quatre.' Heero muttered. 'Wish I could, but I can't. The most that could happen is that I lose a little of my control over myself, but I have so much control it hardly matters. J made sure of that.'

'Oh, Heero.'

'J won't be happy with this.' Heero continued. 'I found out about his…experiment. Is there not a law that says specifically that a prosthetic limb and a pacemaker are as far as one could go with science? A person is not allowed to be…engineered, turned into a robot.'

'You're not a robot Heero.'

'I'm as good as one.' Heero sighed, slumping back into the chair. He stretched out his hands directly in front of Quatre's face and curled it into a fist. 'Synthetic bones, synthetic flesh, synthetic skin, synthetic-'

'Stop it Heero!' Quatre grabbed Heero's hand suddenly, holding it tightly between his own shaking hands. 'You're not synthetic! You're a person Heero, even if some psycho scientist decided to use you as his experiment. It's alright Heero, you're still a person. Your body was made stronger, but that doesn't change who you are.'

'Who am I Quatre?' Heero asked slowly, taking his hand away. 'I have no parents, and I can't remember my own past. Every day, I feel like more of me is slipping away, I feel like I'm losing more of me. But I can't do anything about it, and things just keep going. That child Quatre, from the orphanage…he was so important to me, but I can't even remember his name anymore.'

'Duo.' Quatre whispered. Heero stared at his friend in confusion. 'His name was Duo.'

'Don't refer to him in past tense Quatre.' Heero hissed, feeling suddenly very protective…of what? Quatre looked sad as he poured himself a cup of tea and sipped it, eyes fixed on the swirling contents.

'It's better if you forget him Heero.' He murmured. Heero stared, but his friend did not say anything else on the topic. Just as he was about to ask Quatre about it, the blond changed the topic. 'How about your wife Heero, do you love her?'

'I'm grateful for Relena.' Heero said slowly. 'She looks after me, treats me well, and doesn't let anything awkward ever slip between us. I think she sacrificed too much for me though…'

'Because she loves you.' Quatre looked sad again. 'Don't act like nobody loves you Heero, because we all do.'

'I don't deserve to be loved.' Heero murmured, staring down at his hands.

If he looked up, he would have seen a sad, guilty look flicker through Quatre's aquamarine eyes.

* * *

Heero sat on the bottom of the pavilion steps alone, watching the sky swirl with rain clouds, wishing that it would rain soon. His mind was in a state of turmoil as he went over what he had found out, and how he should confront J about it. J was had been his mentor, his guardian, and try as he might, Heero was unable to just go up to the man and speak about what he had done. There was just something about J that frightened Heero, left him terrified. Something which left him feeling ill every time he wanted to go against or question the doctor's orders, something about him which forced Heero to obey, always. But where had that taken him? A life which was not a life at all, a life that felt more like a dream than anything else. J had never done anything good for Heero, nor had Odin. The both of them had used Heero for his skills, only Odin had merely used Heero, J exploited him. How had all this happened? How could Heero have let this happen? How could he let his life be so easily taken away, so easily used? Easily used, easily manipulated, a puppet, a pawn for someone else's game.

_Don't become a pawn for someone else's game._

Sure Odin, Heero thought sadly, must have been your greatest epiphany. After living an entire life as a dog for the military, you took the easy way out and attempted to redeem yourself by telling your adopted boy not to be a puppet. Too late Odin, Heero sighed, you were too late.

'What's wrong papa?' Heero looked up quickly, seeing Xander standing before him, blue eyes wide and enquiring. 'You look lost.'

'I've always been lost.' Heero murmured sadly, staring at his hands. 'Always.'

* * *

Heero returned home the barely a week later through the back door. He often alternated between using the front gate and the back gate, not wanting his routine to become too predictable. He got out of the car and approached the house, but something about the pavilion distracted him. Deciding that it would not take all that long to visit the pavilion, Heero changed course and headed over to the stone structure. He knew something was wrong the instant he came within clear view of it, seeing the shattered glass all over the floor. Still he walked on, finally stepping into the pavilion and seeing the small, stone table in the center holding a disrupted game of chess. This had been the game he and Relena started about a month ago, but it was normal for them to leave games. Heero was often called to work at random times, and Relena was always busy with meetings and conferences. But the chess pieces were not standing as they usually did, but rather his king was lying on its side, chipped and rolling off the board. He stared around him quickly, taking in the smashed glass on the floor to be from one of Relena's glass flutes. His gaze flew over to the house, and locked on the open back door. No doors were ever left so carelessly open in their household – Relena had too many enemies for that. Swallowing slightly, Heero dashed towards the house, feeling fear spread through him.

He pushed open the back door slowly, drawing his gun as he went. He held the weapon before him as he swerved around quickly, securing the area. Nothing seemed to have been disturbed, save for one of the dining chairs. He righted it as he walked by, his footsteps not making a sound on the cold, marble floor. Quickly, he dashed through the hallway, until he reached the entrance lobby. One of the vases had been smashed, but everything else appeared to be in tact. A check on the stairs showed one of Relena's shoes. She must have been in a real hurry, and decided that the heels were retarding her progress. Heero continued up the stairs, gaze flicking around quickly, searching for signs of abnormity. Apart from the broken items, Relena's shoe and the unsettling silence, everything else seemed to be in tact. Somehow, this made Heero feel more uncomfortable.

He was halfway down the second story hallway when he spotted Relena's other shoe, although it appeared to have been discarded more hastily than the previous shoe. The straps had not been released, but rather, the shoe seemed to have been yanked off quickly. He could almost hear Relena's desperate footsteps as she raced down the hallway, screaming out Xander's name. His grip tightened around his gun, but he moved on, eyes narrowed and all senses alert. Finally, he stopped at Xander's room. He settled his left hand on the handle and waited for a moment before wrenching the door open. The room was just as it had always been, with the messy bed and the toys all over the floor. Heero's eyes narrowed further. Closing the door behind him, he proceeded down the corridor, not even bothering to check the other rooms as he passed. His one destination was the master's bedroom, the room he shared with Relena.

He paused outside the door, left hand resting on the golden handle. Unconsciously, he tightened his hold on the gun and pulled down on the handle at the same time, pushing the door open. He thrust his gun out before him, eyes taking in the state of the room. His eyes widened and he heard the soft "thunk" of his gun hitting the carpeted floor, but he paid it no mind. His eyes were fixated on the large bed in the center of the room.

The normally white sheets were stained a dark red, almost copper color. Lying on the bed with her arms wrapped tightly around Xander was Relena. Her golden hair had fallen out of the loose bun she usually wore at home, and the light dress she wore was torn at the base, as if she had tripped on it in her desperate dashing. Her face was forever frozen in a state of fear, her blue eyes wide and glassy, her mouth open in a silent plea that went unanswered. The bullet holes in her forehead and through her back told of a quick and painless death, although undoubtedly she had been in pain. Heero could almost hear her desperate voice, pleading desperately to the attack to spare her boy. But the request went unanswered, and Xander lay motionless in his mother's arms, eyes shut tightly and face scrunched up in fear. Similar bullet holes in his forehead and back told of a similarly quick death. It also told Heero that a professional assassin had been here and dealt death to his family.

It also told Heero as his legs gave way under him, that this was all his own doing.

* * *

'Quatre!' Heero cried desperately as he dashed into the blond man's study. Quatre had been working on his laptop, and looked up abruptly, surprised with Heero's tone. The brunet locked the door behind him, grabbing the bottle of tequila on the coffee table as he passed. 'My family has been killed.'

'What?' Quatre swerved around fully in his seat, aquamarine eyes widening in shock. 'What do you-'

'My family is dead!' Heero repeated, wrenching off the cap and dumping half the bottle down his throat. 'I come home and they're dead. Relena and Xander, dead on the bed in the master bedroom, all the sheets stained red. They had been died for quite a while, considering that most of the blood had dried. They…they were assassinated Quatre! Damn it!'

'Calm down Heero.' Quatre said imploringly. 'Have you called the police?'

'Police?' Heero let out a harsh chuckle. 'I am the police Quatre, the police are probably the people who killed them.'

'Why?'

'Because I found out about what J was doing to me.' Heero fell back on one of the couches, downing most of the remaining alcohol in the bottle. 'It's illegal you know Quatre? And I did some illegal things to find those files, this is punishment.'

'Punishment…'

'Strange thing is.' Heero looked up slowly, finishing off what was left in the bottle and pointing the empty bottle at Quatre. 'You're the only one I've told.'

'What are you implying?' Quatre asked, his face calm.

'You're the one who told weren't you?' Heero asked slowly. 'You sold me out, sold out my family.'

An almost deafening silence filled the room as the two men stared at each other, both with equally calm and blank expressions on their faces. Then Quatre smiled, a small smile that sent a shiver down Heero's spine.

'Yes, it was me.' Quatre leaned back in his seat, enjoying the comforts the reclining position brought him.

'Why, Quatre?' Betrayal. Heero felt his hands go limp, the bottle dropping along with his arm. He felt all of his confidence leave him, and leave in its wake a vulnerability for everybody to see. Heero's face fell, his eyes sad. Quatre, kind, always helpful Quatre, the person responsible for his family's death. Quatre, his friend, somebody who said they loved him. Quatre, somebody whom Heero…loved? Yes, Heero loved Quatre about as much as he could, he loved Quatre and he betrayed him.

'Oh Heero.' Quatre stood up slowly, walking a wide circle around the couch Heero was sitting in. 'But you were such an interesting boy! Cold, family-deprived, a perfect target! You know, the more I learnt about you, the more I wanted to play with you. Play with your life! It's strange though, for such a brilliant agent, you are very inobservant. In all the years we've been "friends", you never once doubted me did you? You never once thought that I was the one pulling the strings.'

'You…' Heero shook his head. 'Why Quatre? Are you with J? Do you work for J as well? J planned this didn't he? Have somebody spy on me, always. That's why he let me be friends with you, isn't it?'

'Oh no.' Quatre stopped in front of Heero, leaning in with a condescending smile on his face. 'You couldn't have been more wrong. You see, J didn't arrange for you to be my friend, _I_ arranged for you to be my friend.'

'What do you mean?' Heero asked, his grip on the bottle unconsciously tightening. Quatre smiled again before pulling away and dancing around the couch once more.

'I think you're missing the true brilliance of this whole situation.' Quatre smirked. 'Remember how Odin told you not be someone else's pawn? Well, you've been my puppet since day one Heero, you know how?'

'How?'

'Because I control J.' Quatre smiled brilliantly. 'And J controls you.'

'You!' Heero tried hurling the bottle at Quatre as the boy stood in front of him once again, but missed by several inches. His arm was not responding properly to his commands, nor was the rest of his body. His vision was even growing blurry, and he could feel a burning fire growing in the base of his stomach. He would have yelled more at Quatre, but he suddenly found that he could not speak anymore. Before he could control himself, he had fallen forwards off the couch, crashing onto the cold, marble floor. His hands barely had time to brace themselves against the floor before he found his body arching in the first convulsion. Poison in the tequila, Heero's thought uselessly, one of the few that worked on him. XS263, type B, if he was not mistaken. He had seen this poison at work in the laboratory when they were just testing it. The body would abandon the owner's control, and would suffer three convulsions exactly before coughing up blood and dying.

'Quatre…' He managed between gasps as his body arched off the floor once more in the second convulsion.

'You were my favorite you know Heero?' Quatre's voice was kind as he knelt by Heero, one hand petting his hair. 'My favorite soldier, my favorite tool, no…my _perfect_ soldier.'

Heero would have responded with something, but his vision was dimming again and his throat seemed to have closed up. His hands were shaking, as was the rest of his body. Then came the third and final convulsion, his body rising in a beautiful arch before falling forwards once more, suddenly very still. Heero felt blood in his mouth as he lay there against the cold marble, with Quatre's hands tangled in his hair. The other man was whispering something, but he could not understand the words. His vision blurred and darkened at the edges, but he forced his body to fight it. For once, his body did not respond eagerly to his command, and he could only watch as the room slipped away. There was the sound of a violin, a beautiful melody he had never heard before. He heard Quatre's voice, this time clearly, coherently, his friend's final words to him.

'This song is called Farewell, Heero, I wrote it just for you. May it carry you to the other world.'

He coughed heavily, spitting out blood.

Then there was nothing.

Blissful, tranquil, nothingness.

Peace.

* * *

**Endnotes:**

Well, there it is folks, dear Heero's past. Dear Heero is dead also, poor guy. But we know he's going to wake up again! But damn, he's a major alcoholic isn't he? Quatre being the evil guy, did you guys expect that? Kind, generous Quatre, evil? Never! Well, he is. Don't get me wrong though, I like Quatre, but I had to make him evil. Oh darling Quatre…what have I done to you?


	13. Chapter Thirteen: Confrontation

**Progress: **13 of 14**  
General Notes: **Sorry I took so long to update. Things have been going a little hectic here, and my exam result came back pretty crappy. Have been on the lookout ever since just in case my mother decides to swipe my computer away…anyway, as usual, read, enjoy and review!**  
Music: **Pirates of the Caribbean OST; Madlax OST

* * *

**Covetousness**

Chapter Thirteen: Confrontation

Heero awoke with a start. For a moment, he simply remained where he was, feeling his heart race at having just experienced death. His family, Relena and Xander, dead because of his slip. Because of Quatre's betrayal. The thought alone made Heero want to find the blond man and rip him apart. Slowly, realization hit Heero and he remembered fainting in Central Park. Looking around, he found that it was already well into the night. The laptop bag lay beside him, slightly wet from a small shower that Heero had obviously slept through. He wondered dully for a moment whether the computer still worked, but decided that that would have to wait. He had more important things to do.

Rising slowly, Heero stretched himself, finding that a good portion of his clothes were wet. He had no time to ponder about that though. Slinging the laptop bag over his shoulders, he strode quickly onto the bike path and out of the park. The streets were still busy, but not nearly as busy as they were during rush hour, suggesting that that had long since passed. Feeling suddenly confident about everything within the town, Heero turned and hailed a taxi, heading for a familiar shop.

The taxi stopped abruptly outside of a weapons shop, one of Heero's most common destinations. The store was still open, although it looked like the owner was about to close up at any moment. Determinedly, Heero pushed open the door and greeted the owner. The man stared at him for a few seconds, face blank, until realization finally hit him and he stumbled backwards, knocking over the stool he had been sitting on.

'You!' He exclaimed, shock written clearly on his face. 'You…damn kid, I thought you were dead.'

'I'm back from the dead and wish a vengeance.' Heero growled. 'Loan me a gun.'

'Huh?' The man stared at him, face lax. 'Oh, a gun. Sure kid, what kind.'

'It doesn't matter.' Heero muttered distractedly. 'Just loan me a gun, a hand gun.'

'Sure.' The man, sensing Heero's agitation, quickly reached under the counter to bring out a silver handgun. 'Truth be told, I made this gun for you kid. But then you vanished off the face of the earth and I was left with a custom gun that I really didn't want to sell to anybody else.'

Heero took the gun gratefully, wrapping his hands around it. It was definitely custom made, and fit perfectly into his hands, despite them being smaller than usual.

'Made for you kid.' The man explained. 'You got small hands, so I mounted the safety slightly lower. The trigger is short, and had the grip made so that you can shoot for ages without hurting yourself, not that you ever do, knowing you. Also made it so that you can fire with either hands, although it'll still be more accurate on your right hand.'

'Thanks.' Heero said sincerely. 'Thank you for always doing this for me.'

'Old friend, right kid.' The man winked. 'Perhaps one day you'll tell me your name.'

'I'd have to kill you if I did.' Heero sighed. 'Bullets?'

'Yep.' The man reached under his desk to pull out three full cartridges which he placed on the table. 'Three for you kid.'

'Thanks.' Heero thanked again, already loading one of the cartridges. Facing the man again, he murmured as gratefully as he could. 'Thank you for everything.'

'Welcome kid.' The man chuckled, and when Heero reached into his pocket for cash, shook his head. 'Pay me when you come back.'

'But…'

'You come back, okay kid?' The man looked at him seriously. 'I'd like to think that after all these years, we're somehow friends, even if I still don't know your name.'

'Thank you.' Heero smiled. 'If I come back, I'll pay you double and give you my name.'

'_When_ you come back.' The man reminded gruffly. 'Don't be saying doubtful things like that kid, it's not like you.'

'Guess not.' Heero nodded once, murmured a quick farewell before leaving the store. With a gun in his hand, he felt much safer, and it really made him wonder how he could have gone so long without one.

With gun in hand, Heero began his trek towards the Winner Estate.

* * *

'Wufei.' Duo grumbled dully as he looked up from the laptop. 'I don't think he's coming back.'

'He always comes back.' Wufei muttered back. 'Why would he not?'

'Perhaps he's found something more interesting to engage in.' Duo suggested.

'This is just great.' Wufei gave the window a hard knock. 'We finally find where he is, and he decides not to return.'

'That's what fugitives tend to do Wuffers.' Duo said flatly. 'They run.'

'Start thinking then, where would Yuy go?'

'Fucked if I know.' Duo grumbled. He was still feeling unsteady. Heero Yuy was Zero, the boy who had once promised to protect him, who had lived up to that promise for as long as Duo was in the orphanage. Heero. Hero. His Hero. Duo felt his stomach clench uncomfortably. As if he could kill Heero before, but finding out that Heero had been the boy who looked after him when he was young, now that just made the job several times more impossible. That and…Duo shook his head firmly, he would not think any more about it. Either way, he would have to deal with it when the time came.

Suddenly his cell phone rang, jolting Duo out of his revere. He pulled the small device out of his pocket, and was surprised to find that it was Quatre calling. He flipped open the lid in a long since familiar action and pressed the device to his ear, greeting his friend calmly. Quatre's voice on the other end however, was far from calm. Instead, he sounded flustered and highly anxious. Duo felt the doubts from a moment ago vanish as he listened to his friend, who sounded as if he was going to have some form of anxiety attack.

'Calm down Q.' Duo said soothingly. 'Tell me again, what's wrong?'

'There's somebody coming to kill me.' Quatre said quickly, frantically. 'Please Duo, help!'

'Barton's moving.' Wufei said suddenly from Duo's other side, pointing at a lone figure as it left the apartment building across the street and got into a car. There was something strange about the way he was walking, something which screamed danger to Duo.

'I'm come Q.' Duo whispered back frantically. 'Just give me a moment, and I'll be over soon.'

'Please hurry Duo.' Quatre hung up. Duo sighed heavily, eyes still fixed on Trowa who had just started his car and was getting ready to leave. Wufei tugged at his seatbelt, watching the car slip halfway down the street and almost out of sight before starting the car and getting ready to tail him.

'I have to go help a friend of mine.' Duo said quickly. 'He's sure that someone is going to come and kill him.'

'We have a job Duo.' Wufei growled, eyes fixed on the road ahead. 'Must I remind you of that every few hours?'

'My friend is in trouble!' Duo protested, violet eyes shining irritably. 'I have to help him.'

'We have to tail this guy.' Wufei growled. 'He may know where Yuy is.'

'Or he may be going down to the casino.' Duo argued back. 'Quatre is in trouble!'

'Your friend isn't the job!'

'Fine.' Duo waited until they reached a red light. 'I'll take a cab to Q's place, and you can keep following Trowa.'

'Fine.' Wufei gave Duo a furious look. The braided man returned the look as he stepped out of the car and found a taxi in the nearby crowd of waiting cars. He gave the Winner Estate as the destination, and the driver nodded. When the right turn light flashed green, the car turned, driving in front of Wufei's BMW for a moment. Duo gave Wufei a nod, and the man returned the gesture, albeit jerkily.

As the car took down the road, leaving Wufei's car a distant memory, Duo sighed and leaned back. He had a feeling that tonight would not turn out so great.

* * *

Heero approached the Winner Estate, and was surprised to see so few guards around the place. He knew what it meant: Quatre was waiting for him. The cunning bastard, Heero would not let him go this time. Swiftly, Heero moved towards a section of the fence that he knew was slightly wider than the rest. Back when he and Quatre had still been friends, he had used this flaw as a backdoor in frequently. Quatre no doubt knew about it, but the blond man was not about to fix it, especially if it meant retarding his friend's progress.

Heero located the flaw easily, and after checking that there were no sentries near by, slipped through. He instantly fell behind a large bush, which he used as cover all the way until the last fifty meters to the spot just under Quatre Winner's study window. Scouting around quickly, Heero determined that none of the guards had been alerted, and climbed up the wall with practiced grace. He was inside before the guards could turn around to determine the small flash in the corner of their eyes.

Pushing past the curtains, Heero landed neatly in Quatre's study, seeing the familiar desk and chair in the corner, the wall surrounded by numerous LCD panels. A wall of bookshelves stood on the opposite wall, just as Heero had remembered. And in the center of the room were the two couches and coffee table Heero could remember so well. As tradition dictated, the coffee table held a bottle of Whisky, one clear glass, a small bucket of ice (although Heero seldom added ice to his drinks), a teapot and cup. The speaker system was on, and was turned down as usual, with the music of the day being Carmina Burana. Sitting on the couch behind the coffee table, was Quatre Winner, currently engaged in a conversation on the phone. He lifted his gaze slowly, seeing Heero and breaking into a smile. He murmured a few farewells before hanging up and placing the cell phone on the coffee table. Heero raised the gun he was carrying immediately, pointing it at Quatre's forehead as he walked closer. The young Winner heir only smiled as he leaned forwards and poured himself a cup of tea, a gesture familiar to them both. Still smiling, he brought the cup to his lips and sipped once, his aquamarine eyes trained on Heero's face.

'Long time no see.' He murmured. 'Would you not say, friend?'

'You are no friend of mine.' Heero growled, walking closer, gun still trained on Quatre's head.

'Have a drink Heero.' Quatre suggested, pushing the bottle of whisky towards the brunet man. 'You can tell me how your few days as a fugitive has been, and I can be the caring Quatre Winner once again. Come on, it'll be like old times again.'

'Screw yourself Winner.' Heero growled coldly. 'Seriously, fuck yourself.'

'My Heero.' Quatre gave an offended look. 'I've never seen you use such vile language.'

'Cut the crap Winner.' Heero's voice was deathly quiet. 'Have any final words before I empty a full clip inside your skull?'

'Yes.' Quatre said seriously, setting down the tea. 'Please join me for one last cup of tea and alcohol? Just one more, just like old times.'

'What are you asked Quatre.' Heero asked irritably. 'There's no such thing as old times after what you did, no such thing! You killed my family! Relena, Xander, both innocents and you had them murdered. Why Quatre? Just so that you could prove how badly you could screw up my life? Just so that you could mess up further with my already screwed up psyche? There's no way for things to be like they were Quatre, and you know it.'

'I do.' Quatre leaned forward to fetch his cup again. 'But still, I go on hoping, praying, that one day you'll forgive me.'

'Don't kid yourself Winner.' Heero snorted. 'There is no forgiveness for what you did.'

'No.' Quatre sighed, his eyes downcast. 'I guess there isn't.'

The door behind the bookshelves suddenly opened. Heero looked over quickly, gun still pointed at Quatre, and felt surprise when he saw Trowa step out, gun held ready and pointing at Heero. The blue-eyed man could not but smile as he turned back to Quatre, his eyes cold and his voice bitter.

'I guess this round has been another interesting experience, hasn't it Winner?' He asked, eyes fixed on Quatre. 'You'd think I'd learn, wouldn't you? The ever so convenient meeting with Trowa, who so conveniently has a apartment nearby and was willing to share it, who so conveniently was reading about Relena Peacecraft, who so conveniently had a laptop which he never used. What else did you plan Quatre?'

'I'm afraid Trowa was my only string this time.' Quatre smiled. 'But Duo Maxwell helped in getting you tangled, although I'll assure you that Maxwell was not another of my strings. Trowa was the only one.'

'Did you like my act Quatre?' Heero asked, feeling anger at the mention of Duo's name. 'Did you find it amusing?'

'Oh yes.' Quatre smiled. 'And it's only going to get better.'

The main door burst open suddenly, and in stepped Duo Maxwell and his partner. The two of them were still for a moment, before taking in the situation and drawing their respective guns as they marched nearer. Wufei pointed his gun directly at Heero, but Duo pointed his gun at Trowa.

'What's going on here?' Duo asked, confused. Quatre smiled.

'It's a grand show Duo!' Quatre declared happily, placing his teacup back on the coffee table. 'The best damn puppet show of the century.'

'Cut the shit Winner.' Heero growled back. 'This is between you and me. Don't get Duo involved.'

'Oh I assure you I was not the one who involved Duo.' Quatre smirked. 'General Khushrenada was ever so displeased when he found you missing, he just had to get the best, and who better than the man who assassinated your family Heero!'

'What?' Heero turned his gaze on Duo, feeling shock rush through his body. Duo's gaze fell to the floor, his shoulders dropping. But when he looked up again and nodded, there was no lie in his eyes.

'Yes.' Duo murmured softly. 'I was the one who killed your wife and son Heero.'

'What the hell is this?' Wufei asked irritably. 'Heero Yuy is the fugitive, so what is with this situation?'

'I'm afraid things are a little complicated.' Quatre explained. 'But obviously we don't have the time to explain it all tonight.' From inside his jacket, he pulled out a black handgun, which he pointed directly at Duo.

'What are you doing Q?' Duo asked uncertainly, gun still trained on Trowa's chest. 'Q?'

'I'm making things more interesting.' Quatre smirked, before turning his gaze back to Heero. 'So, what will you do now, Heero Yuy, no, Zero?'

Heero did not answer as he stood, eyes flashing between Quatre and Duo. Duo may have been the person who pulled the trigger, but Quatre had been the one who gave the order. He would not blame Duo for Relena and Xander's deaths. Still, something nagged at the back of his mind, telling him, reminding him, that here was the person who pulled the trigger. And then, there was that voice in the deeper part of his mind which reminded him that this was Duo, the little boy from his childhood, the memory that J had been aiming to rid him of throughout his life. The person he promised he would always protect…

Quatre pulled the trigger first, sending a bullet Duo's way. Heero moved and took the bullet in the chest, dragging Duo down with him as he fell, gun firing at Quatre. Both Trowa and Wufei fired as well, which prompted Duo to fire as well from his position on the floor. All hell broke loose then as bullets flew everything, hitting into things, people. The whiskey bottle exploded, sending alcohol and glass fragments everywhere. Heero continued aiming for Quatre, but Trowa was standing in the way, taking the shots for the blond man. Wufei had stopped shooting, unsure which way his bullets were supposed to fly. Trowa's own bullets raced towards Heero and Duo, although they were inaccurate, and more missed by several inches. Heero quickly dragged Duo behind Quatre's large desk, hearing Trowa's shots fly by, bouncing off the walls and smashing windows and LCD panels. Heero let the adrenaline take over as he leaned over the desk and fired a few more times before ducking back behind the desk once more.

All gunshots ceased suddenly and silence filled the room. Slowly, Heero felt he adrenaline leave him, and pain began to force its way into his mind, alerting his body of the various damages. He ignored it however as he checked Duo over, and confirmed that the braided man had only suffered a slight flesh wound on his arm. That completed, he crawled out from behind the desk to check on the others.

Trowa was lying in a pile of his own blood, barely supported by a horrifically injured Quatre. Heero stumbled over, realizing the extent of his own injuries as he walked, barely able to keep his balance. A quick glance across confirmed that Wufei was fine, save for a bullet in the leg which he was attending to while casting wary looks around the room. Duo crawled out from behind the desk and joined Heero as he knelt down beside Quatre. Heero gave the blond man a bitter smile, asking him without words whether it was all worth it for that. Quatre smiled, the serene look disturbed only by a small cough which let flow a trail of blood from his mouth.

'You won't believe me Heero.' He whispered as he smoothed Trowa's hair, cradling the man as he slowly slipped away. 'But I never wanted any of this to happen.'

'Sure you didn't.' Heero coughed, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Duo made a noise next to him. Quatre gave him a sad smile before turning back to Trowa.

'What would you say if I told you I did all this for you?' He asked quietly.

'Bullshit.' Heero growled.

'I wanted you to be happy.' Quatre sighed. 'I lied when I said that J had been my puppet all along. That could not have been further from the truth. I saw you once when I was at a meeting with my father, a soldier boy who stood so still, I thought you were a statue. My father said you had been trained well, and commended you like it was a good thing. I thought they were making you into a toy. So I befriended J, gained his trust, pulled some strings until he was under my control. But by then, you were already too heavily on the drugs. Most of the drugs were not even fit for human testing, and yet J used them on you anyway. I stopped him from using anything else strange, damaging, but the damage was already done. I found out that things might be worse for you if went without the pills. So I pretended I didn't know. As long as J did not do anything else terrible, then you would be okay.

'You don't know how difficult it was to watch you Heero. You were always depressed, always emotionally repressed or too emotional. J tried to make you fair and your heart with the mission one hundred percent by ridding you of happiness, but that was not how things worked. Your psyche became so unstable, I was frightened you might kill yourself. You probably don't remember, but there were periods where you were so frightening Heero. So I made J assign you to Relena. That girl was polite and kind and always slightly maternal, so I thought she would do you good. Then you only had the side missions to go with this big one, and you would not remember the side missions either. Then Relena proposed to you, and I made J allow you to accept. I really thought she would do you good Heero.

'But you weren't there enough. Half the time you were living with her, I knew you were under the influence of one thing or another, completely hazy. You probably don't even remember how your son came to be, just that Relena was pregnant one day. You came to my place late at night Heero, right after you and Relena…you said it was strange, that she wanted it and you wanted to make her happy, to give her some of the happiness she was always pouring into you. You drank four bottles of vodka, more than enough for even you. Even if the drugs didn't make you forget, the alcohol sure did.'

Quatre coughed violently, spitting out a large wad of blood. His face paled visibly, and his body shook all over. He did not have much longer. They all knew it.

'Still, I think to some extent you were happy. You told me once about Duo, a boy from the orphanage who was trying to grow a braid. I found him, and I befriended him, for you. I would have introduced you two again, but that would have involved the possibility of having to sacrifice him. He was always the person you wanted to remember the most, the person your mind struggled hardest against the drugs for. But in the end, you still forgot about him, and I didn't want to remind you. It was better if you didn't know.

'But then you found out about the drugs, and you refused to take them. I knew things would get out of hand then, and that you would not understand it if I told you that the drugs were there to keep you alive, even if they destroyed everything that made you, you. So I decided to erase all traces of Heero Yuy, all traces of Zero Lowe save for a impersonal, made up alias ID and a ID behind a level nine lock. I killed your family, your guards, everybody who knew you, and then I killed you.'

Quatre coughed again and toppled over, lying flat on the floor with blood spewing slowly out of his mouth. Several wounds glistened in his chest, but still, he plowed on.

'Then I encouraged J to start a new project, a project that nobody had ever done before. Revive Heero Yuy, but in such a way that he would no longer need medication all the time. A normal Heero Yuy, reborn! J loves everything research related, all I had to do was tempt him with a subject and a lot of funds. He did it, but you forgot your memories. I knew you would hate me if you remembered everything, but I brought you back so that you can have a go at living the life you missed out on the first time. So I sent Trowa to tail you, to befriend you, to lead you to me, to your previous life. It worked! And here we are Heero.'

Heero stared at Quatre, completely speechless. The blond smiled from the floor, tears gathering in his eyes. When he spoke again, his voice was cracked.

'I wasn't lying when I told you I loved you all those years ago.' He murmured. 'You are important to me Heero, I was willing to sacrifice everything for you, even your life.'

'You're an idiot Winner.' Heero muttered, choking on a mouthful of blood. He spat it out quickly, and saw the room swirl. 'In the end, it made no difference.'

'Yes it did.' Quatre's voice was feather-light. 'All of Trowa's shots were peripheral, places which will incapacitate you for the meantime but not cause any long term damage. I also convinced Khushrenada to let you off, told him that I was responsible for all the experiments, and would accept any punishment he deems necessary. Don't give me that look Heero, I told you didn't I? I pull all the strings around here.'

'I hate you Quatre.' Heero murmured, feeling himself keel over. Duo scrambled forwards quickly, catching him before he fell. Unsteadily, he lifted his head slightly to watch Quatre even has his vision swam. 'I hate you.'

'I love you Heero.' Quatre smiled as his eyes slid closed, a smile still fixed firmly on his face. 'I love you.'

* * *

**Endnotes:**

Wails! I killed Quatre! And Trowa! Wails again! They're dead! No! Not much else I want to say really, except I have no knowledge of guns whatsoever, and the information regarding that gun Heero got off the dude at the shop was just some random handgun I ran into over the net that looked pretty. (I suck, I know). Heh…oh, and just one more chapter to go and this story is finished. Wow! (Feels all excited).


	14. Epilogue: Sakura

**Progress: **14 of 14  
**General Notes: **Took ages didn't I? Sorry. It's almost time for finals, so all our teachers are shoving our last tests for the year, and trying to hurry us along so that we've at least finished the course…sort of. Just had a chemistry test about something that we didn't really go over in all that much detail, although I suppose there really isn't much to say about transition metals. My prac didn't go so well though, instead of getting a paste, my partner and I ended up with what looked like wet, blue sand. It was rather nerve-wracking, considering that we had not done anything wrong. Oh well, let's just hope it goes right over before we get back to school on Monday.**  
Music: **Noir OST I

* * *

**Covetousness**

Epilogue: Sakura

The sky was obscured by thick clouds, shielding the city below from what little sunlight winter had to offer. The wind was light but chilly, its gusts cutting like invisible blades through cotton shirts and jumpers. Despite the weather, Heero Yuy found himself standing before Quatre Winner's grave clad only in a loose, gray shirt with its first two buttons left open, and a pair of blue jeans. Duo would scold him later, he thought with a wry smile, would give him a powerful, long-winded speech mentioning incapacitation, shock and death, all linked back to the main contention that Heero was not wearing enough, although the link would definitely be obscure. Sighing, Heero bent down before Quatre's grave, and placed a bouquet of cherry blossoms (1) on the marble surface of Quatre's plaque. The white-pink flowers fluttered slightly as another gust of wind blew by, ripping off tender petals and scattering them across the blond man's grave. Heero's hair moved wildly with the wind, followed by his hand moving automatically to hold it from his eyes.

'It's been a while, hasn't it Quatre?' He asked softly. 'Two whole years since I last visited you. I do hope you're not angry at me, wherever you may be.'

Heero let his free hand drift towards the cool marble, ghosting over Quatre's name. He had avoided coming to Quatre's grave, ever since the blond man's burial two years ago. It was something that Heero was ashamed of, but he found himself unable to keep a clear mind every time he stood before the cold, black headstone. Quatre Winner, the person who had loved Heero enough to bring him and those around him so much pain. Even now, Heero could not completely forgive Quatre for what he had done, could not fully understand Quatre's state of mind. How could he have felt so strongly for Heero as to sacrifice everything, to lay out such a complicated scheme, just so that Heero could live a life as a human? Quatre might have felt like he had saved Heero, but Heero's own feelings were far from feeling saved. Often, Heero would have nightmares where he found himself chased by faceless people. When he finally awoke from those nightmares, his heart would still be beating rapidly and his breath short. Duo would stumble in from the next room then, crawling into his bed and holding him while whispering soothing words that Heero could never fully understand. Heero could not understand why Duo put up with him, but every time he asked, the braided man would simply smile and remind Heero that it was repayment for looking after him as a child. More often than not, Heero would find himself wishing that Duo was doing it for a purpose far different from repayment, although he would never tell the other man.

His life before death might have been hazy with lack of memories, but his life after was definitely full of memories. Often, Heero found himself wanting to forget things, namely the screams of the innocent people that had gotten in the way of his missions in the past, and had to be eliminated as a result of that. Duo revealed that he too, shared such nightmares, but he had learnt to tune those memories out. Such memories were simply thorns the mind made for itself, Duo had said, shackles that the mind bound itself with as a reminder of its own evil. But thorns could be removed, and shackles released. It would take time, but things would get better. Heero found that such words were true, and the amount of nightmares reduced as time passed by. They had not stopped, but there were steadily less and less of them, and Heero found himself feeling less guilty at being alive.

'I got myself a job as a database administrator.' Heero said proudly. 'Duo quit his old job, and he now works with me in the same building, but we're not on the same floor. Duo is a programmer now, he says it's more interesting than proofreading articles. We share an apartment about a block from Duo's old apartment, since the place was too small to fit both of us. Wufei visits us frequently. Sometimes Meilan comes as well. They got married eighteen months ago, and now have a little boy called Wufeng (2). The boy's inherited Wufei's bad temper, even though he's only a few months old. Wufei speaks of him like he does a god! Meilan's already thinking of sending him to law school, said he'd do well there after spending a life with his father and his constant justice rants. Duo suggested that he might be into cooking, considering the mess he made with dinner the last time he came around. Meilan found it funny, but Wufei got a little upset and ranted at Duo for a good quarter of an hour for misleading his son.

'You don't need to worry about Trowa, he gets many visitors. Mostly the people from the old bar who still can't believe that he's dead. A few of the musicians came over about a month ago and played him a concert on the go. You should have seen the crowd Quatre! It was truly amazing. It was on the news, "a tribute to a talented musician". Nobody knows how he really died, and it makes me feel a little guilty every time I hear them asking each other about how Trowa could just die from cancer like that when he was so obviously healthy. But I think they are better off with that story, that is why you made it up isn't it? Trowa doesn't need to taint his name…'

Heero looked up slowly to see the first snow of the season fall, drifting lazily down and landing gently on Quatre's grave before melting. More snow followed, covering the city slowly in a blanket of white. Heero smiled, his eyes sad. Quatre loved the snow, and despite all that he had done, his intentions had been pure, just like the snow. Heero rose slowly, eyes still fixed on his friend's grave. He might not have forgiven Quatre completely, but he was ready to put it behind him and move on, leaving the entire escapade as but another bad memory to add to his list of horrible experiences.

'_Sakura sakura, noyama mo sato mo_.' He sang softly, voice barely carrying over the wind. '_Miwatasu kagiri, kasumi ka kumo ka, asahi ni nio-u_.'

More of the flower petals scattered as he heard Duo's voice in the distance, calling out to him and telling him to go back to the car. He asked Duo for another minute, and the braided man shouted something about snow and thin shirts not mixing while pointing an accusatory finger at Heero. Heero smiled as he turned back to Quatre's grave one last time.

'_Izaya izaya mini yu kan_.' (3)

Yes Quatre, lets see them together someday.

Fin.

* * *

**Endnotes:**

(1) Cherry blossoms, or Sakura, bloom for a very short amount of time, which is hence the reason why it so often associated with the swiftness life. I decided to use it, since visiting a grave meant visiting somebody whose swift life had ended.

(2) Wufeng literally means the dance of the wind, which I believe has some sort of association with martial arts. (I've got terrible Chinese). Since it is in pinyin, it could also be read as no wind, or, like Wufei's name, something to do with the number five. Ah well, take it whichever way you prefer…

(3) This is the second verse and final line from the first verse of the famous Japanese folk song Sakura. I'm not sure whether the song was supposed to be somewhat sad, but I always found the melody somewhat…depressing. No, not depressing exactly, just, sad-ish…Anyway, since Heero was bringing Quatre the cherry blossoms anyway, I decided that this song would be appropriate. Besides, being a folk song, it makes it somewhat in-character for Heero to sing it (okay, Heero in character just doesn't sing, but if he did, I think this song would suit the best). The translation goes:

Cherry Blossoms, Cherry Blossoms  
As far as I can see across  
the hills and valleys  
like the mist or the clouds  
The fragrance is carried in to  
The morning sun

And the final line means: now, let us go to see them now.

It's finished! My first ever finished multipart story! I'm so proud of myself. I must say, I really enjoyed writing this, even though a large part of it was written while I was supposed to be in exam revision, still, the distraction was nice, even though slightly uncalled for. There were so many times where I found myself unable to stop writing this fic, and I think that's the only reason why I managed to finish it. To tell you guys the truth, the whole business with Quatre was something I thought up while being completely incapacitated with the flu. I had not originally planned to make Quatre bad, but I think the twist at the end made the story all the better. I really liked how this all turned out, even though I started the story with far different ideas. I suppose I should also apologize for the lack of proper 2x1x2. I _intended_ to develop and further Duo and Heero's relationship, but somehow, this story ended before I had time for that…so sorry all, hope you still enjoyed it anyway.

I'd like to thank my friends Overlord and Leia for running through the plot with me and picking out the loopholes, and all my other friends who endured my ranting when writer's block hit. I would also like to thank Leia for her help in regards to all references made to alcohol, since I am a nonalcoholic myself, I know very little about it. I'd also like to thank Bob for all her attempts at helping, and our shared discussion when I was writing about Heero purchasing a gun. Like mentioned previously, guns are illegal in this country, and as interested as I am in them, I know next to nothing about them save that you pull the trigger and bullets fly out. I'd also like to thank Bob for all her various distractions (you guys don't even want to know some of the things she said to me while I was writing this), and her encouragement. I'd also like to thank Mi-chan for all her support and knowledge on classical music (you people should see her house! She has the coolest stereo system in the lounge, and more classical music CDs than I've seen anywhere else), and my friend Stephanie for appreciating my plot. Finally, I would like to thank all of you for reading this, and all my wonderful reviewers. You guys have really made this whole experience worthwhile, and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

Assassin


End file.
